Pronunciation: [ʃˈuːd] (IPA) 
The word "shooed" is commonly spelled with two "o"s, despite many speakers pronouncing it with a long "u" sound. In IPA phonetic transcription, "shoo" is represented as /ʃuː/, with the two "o"s indicating a long "u" sound. However, the past tense of "shoo" is spelled "shooed" (/ʃuːd/), with a single "o" indicating a short "u" sound followed by a silent "e." This is an example of English spelling not always following pronunciation.
The term "shooed" is a verb that constitutes the past tense and past participle form of the verb "shoo." It refers to the act of using vocal cues, hand gestures or physical movement to drive away or scare off someone or something, typically an animal or an intruder.
When an individual "shoos" or "shoos away" something, they are attempting to make it go away or leave a particular area by using actions or sounds that are intended to be intimidating or off-putting. The purpose of shooing is to create a deterrent effect rather than causing harm.
Shooing is often employed with animals that have invaded a place, such as shooing a bird that has flown inside a house or shooing a dog away from a flower bed. It is also commonly used to chase away pests like insects or flies.
In a broader sense, the term "shooed" can be figuratively used to describe situations where individuals are being urged or encouraged to leave promptly, just as one might use the phrase "shooed them out the door" to express someone's swift exit from a place.
Overall, "shooed" implies the act of repelling or driving away someone or something through nonviolent means, typically involving gestures, sounds, or a combination of both.
* The statistics data for these misspellings percentages are collected from over 15,411,110 spell check sessions on www.spellchecker.net from Jan 2010 - Jun 2012.
The word "shooed" comes from the longer phrase "shoo-shoo", which is an onomatopoeic representation of the sound that is made to drive away or scare off animals or pests. The verb "shoo" itself dates back to the early 17th century and was originally used in the sense of chasing away or driving off insects or birds by making a hissing or similar sound. Over time, "shoo" expanded in usage and is now commonly used to refer to the act of gesturing or making a sound to send away animals or people. The past tense form "shooed" originates from the regular conjugation of verbs in the English language.
