Abstract We have developed an empirical model to determine Mossbauer isomer-shift of dilute Fe2+ impurities in ionic and covalent binary compounds, where at least one of the host belongs to the metalloids or non-metals category of the periodic system. The proposed approach employs the use of nearest neighbour distances and differences in host atoms Pauling electronegativity. The two-parameter model predicts the room temperature isomer-shift of 22 compounds with room temperature isomer shifts ranging from −0.93 mm/s to +0.95 mm/s with a standard deviation of 0.09 mm/s and is valid for difference in host atoms Pauling electronegativity of ΔχP