chin
pronunciation
How to pronounce chin in British English:
UK [tʃɪn]
How to pronounce chin in American English:
US [tʃɪn]
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- Noun:
- the protruding part of the lower jaw
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- Verb:
- in gymnastics: raise oneself while hanging from one's hands until one's chin is level with the support bar
Word Origin
- chin
- chin: [OE] Chin has relatives throughout the Germanic languages (German has kinn, for instance, and Dutch kin) and is also represented in words for ‘lower jaw’, ‘mouth’, ‘cheek’, etc in other Indo-European languages (Greek gnáthos ‘jaw’, for example, which gave English prognathous ‘having projecting jaws’). All go back to a prehistoric Indo-European source *genw-.=> prognathous
- chin (n.)
- Old English cin, cinn "chin" (but in some compounds suggesting an older, broader sense of "jawbone"); a general Germanic word (compare Old Saxon and Old High German kinni; Old Norse kinn; German Kinn "chin;" Gothic kinnus "cheek"), from PIE root *genu- "chin, jawbone" (cognates: Sanskrit hanuh "jaw," Avestan zanu- "chin;" Armenian cnawt "jawbone, cheek;" Lithuanian žándas "jawbone;" Greek genus "chin, lower jaw," geneion "chin;" Old Irish gin "mouth," Welsh gen "jawbone, chin").
- chin (v.)
- 1590s, "to press (affectionately) chin to chin," from chin (n.). Meaning "to bring to the chin" (of a fiddle) is from 1869. Slang meaning "talk, gossip" is from 1883, American English. Related: Chinned; chinning. Athletic sense of "raise one's chin over" (a raised bar, for exercise) is from 1880s.
Example
- 1. Pick a hat that will balance your strong chin .
- 2. I never saw such a long chin in my life .
- 3. Tilt your chin slightly downward .
- 4. Weight gain or genetics may lead to a double chin .
- 5. I further cratered my chin as an adult .