fin
pronunciation
How to pronounce fin in British English:
UK [fɪn]
How to pronounce fin in American English:
US [fɪn]
-
- Noun:
- the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one
- one of a pair of decorations projecting above the rear fenders of an automobile
- one of a set of parallel slats in a door or window to admit air and reject rain
- a shoe for swimming; the paddle-like front is an aid in swimming (especially underwater)
- a stabilizer that resembles the fins of a fish
- organ of locomotion and balance in fishes and some other aquatic animals
-
- Verb:
- equip (a car) with fins
- propel oneself through the water in a finning motion
- show the fins above the water while swimming
Word Origin
- fin
- fin: [OE] Fin is a word common to the Germanic languages of northeast Europe (German has finne, Dutch vin), but its ultimate source is not clear. The likeliest candidate is Latin pinna ‘feather, wing’ (source of English pin, pinion, and pinnacle), although another suggestion is Latin spīna ‘thorn, spike’.=> pin, pinion, pinnacle
- fin (n.)
- Old English finn "fin," from Proto-Germanic *finno (cognates: Middle Low German vinne, Dutch vin), perhaps from Latin pinna "feather, wing" (see pin (n.)); or, less likely, from Latin spina "thorn, spine" (see spine). U.S. underworld slang sense of "$5 bill" is 1925, from Yiddish finif "five," from German fünf (see five) and thus unrelated. The same word had been used in England in 1868 to mean "five pound note" (earlier finnip, 1839).
Example
- 1. The judges were particularly impressed by the fin , which is 0.1mm thick .
- 2. Her prosthetic fin acts like a rudder and keeps her stable .
- 3. A diver rests on the fin of this fully-grown 50 foot female humpback whale in the pacific ocean .
- 4. The seal was able sense and indicate the direction in which the fin travelled up to 35 seconds after the movement had stopped .
- 5. Inside the box , the scientists created a trail with their artificial fish , which was essentially a rubber fin on a stick that created a trail similar to the swimming motion of a real fish .