Shyness is discomfort at being noticed by others. Overcome shyness, painful shyness, a child's shyness.
It is not the same as introversion: shyness is fear of the encounter and introversion is a preference about how to spend energy, and plenty of extroverts are shy. Severe shyness that stops somebody living is social anxiety, which is treatable.
1nounshynessDiscomfort at being noticed by others.
“Her shyness made it hard for her to speak up in class.”
shyness is a feeling.
Proto-Germanic
*skeuhaz — shy, fearful
Proto-West Germanic
*skeuh — shy, fearful
Old English
sċēoh — shy
Middle English
shy — shy
English
shy
English, today
shyness
From shy + -ness. shy comes from Middle English shy (“shy”), from Old English sċēoh (“shy”), from Proto-West Germanic skeuh (“shy, fearful”), from Proto-Germanic skeuhaz (“shy, fearful”). Cognate with stq skjou (“shy”), Dutch schuw (“shy”), German scheu (“shy”), Danish sky (“shy”). From Middle English shy.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA