Past Tense of “shear”
The past tense of shear is sheared; the past participle is shorn/sheared.
Why “shear” behaves this way
"Shear," meaning to cut or clip closely (especially wool from a sheep), comes from Old English "sceran," a strong verb whose irregular participle "shorn" survives strongly today, particularly in the specific context of sheep-shearing and in figurative extensions of that image. The simple past has regularized to "sheared," while the participle genuinely splits between the traditional "shorn" and the newer regular "sheared," depending on context and formality.
The figurative phrase "shorn of" (meaning stripped of something, as in "shorn of his power" or "shorn of illusions") has kept "shorn" alive in literary and journalistic writing far beyond its literal agricultural roots, giving this participle a much longer cultural life than the workaday sense of clipping wool might suggest on its own. Structural engineers specifically calculate "shear stress" as a distinct measurable force from tension or compression, a precise technical borrowing from the everyday cutting sense of the verb.
The common confusion
The confusion is choosing between "shorn" and "sheared" for the participle: agricultural and literal contexts (a sheep that was shorn) lean toward "shorn," while mechanical or technical contexts (a bolt that sheared under pressure) lean toward "sheared," and the figurative idiom "shorn of" almost always uses the traditional irregular form.
How it's actually used
"Shear" appears literally in farming and textile contexts (shearing sheep, shorn wool) and technically in engineering (a bolt or pin "shearing" under stress, "shear force"), with the figurative "shorn of" idiom bridging into literary and political writing entirely independent of either literal context. Hairdressing occasionally uses "shear" formally for a dramatic haircut, leaning on the word's slightly more forceful connotation compared to the plainer "cut." A dull set of clippers can leave a sheep looking ragged even when the shearer is highly experienced. A commercial shearing crew can work through hundreds of sheep in a single long day during peak season. Wool graders sort each shorn fleece by fineness and length before it ever reaches a mill for processing. A single skilled shearer can still outpace an inexperienced crew of three working the same flock. A single strand of fencing wire sheared clean through under the truck's full weight. A green apprentice shearer sheared far more slowly than the crew's seasoned veterans. A stubborn ewe sheared reluctantly took nearly twice as long as the calmer ones. A careless swing of the clippers sheared off far more wool than intended in one spot.
Across the tense system
The simple past is consistently "sheared" across all contexts; only the participle splits, with "shorn" favored in agricultural and figurative use and "sheared" favored in mechanical and technical use, a distinction worth checking against context rather than assuming one is simply correct. Aviation reports on wind shear typically use the noun form almost exclusively, rarely conjugating the verb at all in official incident documentation.
Common real mistakes
The main error is using "shorn" as the simple past tense ("the farmer shorn the sheep yesterday" is wrong; it should be "sheared"), confusing the participle's irregular form with the (regular) simple past. A further point: "shear" should never be confused with the homophone "sheer," an unrelated adjective meaning steep, thin, or complete, despite identical pronunciation. Writers should also be careful not to write "sheered" by mistake, confusing this verb's spelling with the unrelated nautical term "sheer" (a ship veering off course), which has its own entirely separate meaning.
Examples
- The farmer sheared the entire flock in a single afternoon.
- The sheep looked strangely small once shorn of their winter wool.
- The bolt sheared clean off under the sudden load.
- He felt shorn of his authority after the reorganization.
- Wind shear near the runway forced the pilot to abort the landing.
- The technician found the mounting pin had sheared during the test.
- The old shearing shed still smells faintly of lanolin decades after it last saw regular use.
Memory trick
Remember the simple past is always "sheared," while "shorn" survives mainly in the fixed idiom "shorn of" and in describing a freshly clipped sheep — two very specific homes for an otherwise fading irregular form.