shepherdess

shepherdess — noun

1. a female whose occupation is guiding and looking after a flock of sheep in the c

1.nounB2
Definition

a female whose occupation is guiding and looking after a flock of sheep in the countryside

Example

Maja worked as a shepherdess in the hills of northern Spain for nearly forty years.

worked as a shepherdess

The village shepherdess whistled to her dogs and guided the flock across the narrow bridge.

guided the flock

Common collocations
  • young shepherdess
  • old shepherdess
  • work as a shepherdess
  • village shepherdess
Synonyms
  • shepherd

    the standard term; can refer to any gender in modern usage, whereas shepherdess specifically marks the person as female

  • herder

    broader term covering people who tend any type of livestock, not only sheep

  • herdsman

    strongly male-marked; considered old-fashioned for most contexts

Usage Note

Much less common than the gender-neutral or male form shepherd; often used to specify a female shepherd when the gender is relevant to the context.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Shepherd is the general term for someone who tends sheep and is now widely used for any gender, though historically masculine. Shepherdess is the marked feminine form and is noticeably less frequent in modern texts — it appears mostly in historical or rural contexts where the speaker wants to highlight the person's gender. Herder is a broader occupation label that covers people tending cattle, goats, reindeer, or any grazing livestock, not just sheep. Herdsman is strongly masculine and feels dated; it is rarely used today outside of historical fiction. For a modern learner, shepherd is the safest and most neutral word to use unless the context specifically calls for a feminine form.

shepherd ↗herderherdsman

Common collocations

Nouns

Etymology

Old EnglishFrenchEnglish

Formed from shepherd + the feminine suffix -ess. The word shepherd itself comes from Old English sceaphierde, a compound of sceap (sheep) + hierde (herdsman). The -ess suffix was borrowed from French and became common in English from the 14th century onward to mark female roles (e.g., actress, waitress). Shepherdess has been used since at least the 16th century.