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My Longman dictionary states that the comparative of 'shy' is 'shyer'. However, at least two online dictionaries also give the form 'shier' as being acceptable: The Free Dictionary and Merriam-Webster. On an English language forum I came across a reference to British (shyer) vs. American (shier) spelling. But an Ngram chart shows that even in American English 'shyer' is much more used.

My problem is that I've been told that it is definitely wrong, but if it's in dictionaries then... has there been a change to what is wrong?

P.S.: Google Ngram link

Mari-Lou A
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SC for reinstatement of Monica
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  • How about https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=shier+than%2Cshyer+than&year_start=1990&year_end=2014&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cshier%20than%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cshyer%20than%3B%2Cc0 – mplungjan May 07 '14 at 08:54
  • Also http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shyer has shier as alternative, whereas http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shier does not have shyer as alternative... British vs US spelling? – mplungjan May 07 '14 at 08:56
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    The most common American spelling is shyer as well; shier is a rarely used alternative. – Peter Shor May 07 '14 at 10:52
  • See also this answer, which deals (in some detail) with the spelling variation of word-final -y/-ie when suffixes are added to the base word. – Janus Bahs Jacquet May 07 '14 at 22:29
  • Do you say "dryer" or "drier"? – Joe Z. May 08 '14 at 01:39
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    I've heard that "drier" is the comparative, and "dryer" the appliance, but I suspect many don't obseve this distinction. – Brian Hitchcock Jan 25 '15 at 00:24
  • All of AHD, Collins and R H K Webster's at 'The Free Dictionary' license both spelling variations. – Edwin Ashworth May 04 '23 at 11:02

3 Answers3

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"shyer" or "shier"?

Both versions are acceptable in today's standard English.

In the 2002 CGEL page 1581:

Monosyllabic dry and shy are optionally exceptions to the y-replacement rule, allowing either y or i before the suffix: dry ~ dryer/drier ~ dryest/driest and shy ~ shyer/shier ~ shyest/shiest.

Note that CGEL is the 2002 reference grammar by Huddleston and Pullum et al., The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CGEL).

F.E.
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  • I suppose these spelling alternatives (for derived forms) differ from say artefact/artifact, whch hardly seems to fall under 'grammar'. – Edwin Ashworth May 04 '23 at 15:07
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Both are acceptable in the U.S., however "shier" is the preferred spelling in American English and "shyer" is the proper spelling in the Queen's English.

Phrog
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Dictionaries do indeed allow both spellings shier and shyer. However, the spellings are not pleasant to the eye. I tend to avoid them by substituting another adjective, such as bashful.

Sara_Elaine
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