shin
pronunciation
How to pronounce shin in British English:
UK [ʃɪn]
How to pronounce shin in American English:
US [ʃɪn]
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- Noun:
- the front part of the human leg between the knee and the ankle
- a cut of meat from the lower part of the leg
- the 22nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet
- the inner and thicker of the two bones of the human leg between the knee and ankle
-
- Verb:
- climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
Word Origin
- shin
- shin: [OE] Shin has Germanic relatives in German schiene ‘thin plate’, Dutch schen ‘shin’, Swedish skena ‘shin’, and Danish skinne ‘splint’. Its underlying meaning seems to be ‘thin piece’. The first record of its use as a verb, meaning ‘climb with the hands and legs’, comes from the early 19th century.
- shin (n.)
- Old English scinu "shin, fore part of the lower leg," from Proto-Germanic *skino "thin piece" (cognates: Dutch scheen, Old High German scina, German Schienbein "shin, shinbones"), from PIE root *skei- "to cut, split" (see shed (v.)). Shin splints is attested from 1930.
- shin (v.)
- "to climb by using arms and legs" (originally a nautical word), 1829, from shin (n.). Related: Shinned; shinning.
Example
- 1. This is a very inefficient way of running and a major cause of shin splints and heel pain .
- 2. If you 've been feeling muscle fatigue , shin splints , or some pain in your joints -- especially your knees -- you may be wearing running shoes that no longer have adequate cushioning .
- 3. He explained that there were still pieces of shrapnel from a home-made bomb lodged in his knee and shin , waiting to be removed .
- 4. Surgeons nowadays borrow bits of bone , typically from the patient 's hip or shin , and manually craft them into something akin to the missing facial fragments .