aw-shucks

American  

[aw-shuhks] / ˈɔˈʃʌks /

adjective

Informal.

1. characterized by a shy, embarrassed, often provincial manner.

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aw-shucks British  

/ ˌɔːˈʃʌks /

adjective

1. seeming to be modest, self-deprecating, or shy

   don't be fooled by his aw-shucks attitude

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Etymology

Origin of aw-shucks

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

With his country twang and aw-shucks mannerisms belying a keen intellect, Will Rogers was the lasso-roping star of vaudeville and the Broadway stage.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2025

Someone at the start of a promising career in journalism who is so aggressively flattering and greasily evasive, with a snap-on, snakelike, aw-shucks smile, has got to have a scheme up his sleeve.

From New York Times • Feb. 6, 2024

“We should not be fooled by his aw-shucks style,” Fea added in Current, an online journal.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 27, 2023

But all of Archduke Eduard’s aw-shucks baroque kitsch cannot obscure the fact that all the modern horrors that Habsburg laments, from Protestantism and capitalism to secularism and mass democracy, were birthed on his family’s watch.

From Slate • Apr. 21, 2023

“I only saw Alaska, but Chip ran away, which struck me as cowardly, as does Miles and Takumi’s aw-shucks routine,” the Eagle said, giving me the Look of Doom.

From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green