Other forms: sheriffs
A sheriff is the chief law officer of an American county. The county sheriff, sheriff's deputy, elected sheriff.
In America the sheriff is usually elected, which makes the office political in a way most policing is not. In England the High Sheriff is now a ceremonial post, though it is one of the oldest offices in the country. In Scotland a sheriff is a judge. Note that the word is shire plus reeve, an Old English royal officer — and has no connection at all to the Arabic sharif.
1nounsheriffThe chief law officer of an American county.
“The sheriff and his deputies searched the county for the missing girl.”
2nounjudgeA judge, in Scotland.
“At the court in Edinburgh, the sheriff sentenced him to a hundred hours of community service.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
sheriff is a law officer.
Old English scirgerefa is shire plus reeve, a royal official. The resemblance to the Arabic sharif is a pure coincidence with no shared history.
Middle English
shirreve
English, today
sheriff
From Middle English shirreve. Middle English shirreve, in turn Old English sċīrġerēfa, corresponding to shire + reeve. There is no etymological connection to sharif (Arabic شَرِيف), an Arabic title of honour with cognates in other languages, including Persian, Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA