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Added 9 October 2026

shin

/ʃɪn/ noun

Categories: The BodyFood & DrinkRare Words

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about shin at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. The front part of the leg below the knee; the front edge of the shin bone: Shinbone on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
    Soccer players have to wear protective gear so they don't injure their shins.
  2. A fishplate for a railway

verb

  1. To climb up or lower oneself down a mast, tree, rope, or the like, by embracing it alternately with the arms and legs, without help of steps, spurs, or the like.
    to shin up a mast
  2. To strike with the shin.
  3. To run about borrowing money hastily and temporarily, as when trying to make a payment.

noun

  1. The twenty-first letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others): Shin (letter) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Origin

From Middle English schyne, from Old English scinu, from Proto-West Germanic *skinu, from Proto-Germanic *skinō. Cognate with West Frisian skine, Dutch scheen, German Schiene. Not related to skin.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Related Words: shinbonetibiaskinsputterscramblestruggleclambershinnychinlegwarmsheen

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