the.com/sheepish
The look of someone caught red-handed and apologizing with their entire face.
means Feeling or showing embarrassment from shame or a sense of having done something foolish, especially in a meek, awkward way.
from From "sheep" plus the suffix "-ish," likening an embarrassed person to that famously meek, easily-flustered animal. The word first carried the general sense of "sheeplike" — bashful, timid, foolish — before narrowing over time to the particular look of awkward, caught-out shame we mean today. Sheep have long been a byword in English for being docile and dim-witted, so to wear their expression was to wear your meekness on your face.
- origin
- From sheep, long seen as timid, easily led creatures
- the look
- Awkward smile plus avoiding eye contact equals guilty as charged
- old meaning
- Once simply meant resembling a sheep, no shame implied
- body language
- Hunched shoulders broadcast embarrassment before words even arrive
for instance
shaun the sheep — british stop-motion character since 1999 known for his guilty, apologetic expressions