sheik

noun

Etymology: From Arabic شَيْخ (šayḵ, “elder”). Sense 4 (“a romantic lover”) is from the 1921 film The Sheik.

1. The leader of an Arab village, family or small tribe.

   “Tarzan, who, by this time, with the assistance of Abdul, had picked up quite a smattering of Arab, questioned one of the younger men who had accompanied the sheik while the latter paid his respects to Captain Gerard.”

2. An Islamic religious cleric; the master of a Sufi order.

   “He then studied under a variety of scholars (shuyook) and institutes around the world in his quest for authentic knowledge.”

3. An official title for members of the royal family as well as some prominent families.
4. A romantic lover.

   “When your last natural tooth goes, the time when you can kid yourself that you're a Hollywood sheik, is definitely at an end.”

5. An Arab, especially one dressed in traditional clothing.
6. An honorific for specialists in spirituality, for example in Sufism.