sheesh/ sheeesh

[pronounced shish/ shis/ shiish] – is a borrowed exclamation from English (original: sheesh) that conveys the recipient’s reaction in the style of: Ah damn it’. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word expresses surprise, disappointment or irritation, and its first known use dates back to 1955 (see: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sheesh#h1). The origin of the word is unclear, but many sources consider sheesh to be a euphemistic transformation of the exclamations Jesus, Jeez or shit (see https://www.thefreedictionary.com/sheesh, https://slang.net/meaning/sheesh).

The word began to spread on TikTok in early 2021 like a meme, when one of the service’s users posted a video clip of a frog being poured with water accompanied by audio of the word sheesh recorded in a high-pitched voice.  In slang, it expresses, depending on the context – interest, surprise, amazement and even admiration or disapproval. It often occurs together with an emoji 😬🥶. See also: https://hypest.pl/sheeesh-co-to-znaczy-wyjasniamy-popularnego-mema/.
In face-to-face communication, it also serves as a kind of ‘groan of thought’ (replacing the not-so-young ‘yyy’), to mark contact or is used because – as younger teenagers say – it ‘sounds cool’. On the one hand, it is a matter of linguistic fashion, on the other, the sonic similarity to the aforementioned English vulgarity: shit, the public use of which is inappropriate.

Examples of use:

1. Sheesh Sound Effect Meme – TIKTOK COMPILATION /https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbhoGV5XnvE/
2. sheesh Emoji Combos /https://emojicombos.com/sheesh/
3. sheesh – such a shitty word as a youth word? /h/
4. Knocked him over! Sheesh! /h/