Other forms: shires
A shire is a county, in older British usage. The shire counties, a shire horse, ride to hounds in the shire.
It survives as an ending on most English county names and on its own for the rural counties as a group. A shire horse is a heavy draught breed named from them. Sheriff is shire-reeve, the king's officer in a shire, worn down over centuries.
1nounshireA county, in older British usage.
“He left his little village in the shire and set off to seek his fortune in London.”
shire is a county.
Old English scir means an office or district. Sheriff is shire-reeve, the reeve or officer of a shire.
Proto-Indo-European
*kʷeys- — to heed; to see
Proto-West Germanic
*skīru — district; status of an official, office
Old English
sċīr — administrative region under an alderman and sheriff, shire; district under a governor or official; status of an official, office
Middle English
schire — region, shire, county
English, today
shire
The noun is derived from Middle English schire (“region, shire, county”)chyer, schere, schire, schyr, schyre, scīr, sheere, sher, shir, shyr, shyre, sir, ssire, from Old English sċīr (“administrative region under an alderman and sheriff, shire; district under a governor or official; status of an official, office”)sċiir, sċīre, sċȳr, from Proto-West Germanic skīru (“district; status of an official, office”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Latin cūra (“care, concern; administration, charge, management; command, office”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European kʷeys- (“to heed; to see”). The verb is derived from the noun.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA