sin
pronunciation
How to pronounce sin in British English:
UK [sɪn]
How to pronounce sin in American English:
US [sɪn]
-
- Noun:
- estrangement from god
- an act that is regarded by theologians as a transgression of God's will
- ratio of the opposite side to the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle
- the 21st letter of the Hebrew alphabet
- violent and excited activity
-
- Verb:
- commit a sin; violate a law of God or a moral law
- commit a faux pas or a fault or make a serious mistake
Word Origin
- sin
- sin: [OE] Sin comes from a prehistoric Germanic *sunjō, a close relative of which produced German sünde, Dutch zonde, and Swedish and Danish synd ‘sin’. It is not altogether clear what its ultimate origins were, but it has been linked with Latin sōns ‘guilty’, and also with English sooth ‘truth’ and Sanskrit satya- ‘real, true’, as if its ancestral meaning were ‘(truly) guilty’.
- sin (n.)
- Old English synn "moral wrongdoing, injury, mischief, enmity, feud, guilt, crime, offense against God, misdeed," from Proto-Germanic *sun(d)jo- "sin" (cognates: Old Saxon sundia, Old Frisian sende, Middle Dutch sonde, Dutch zonde, German Sünde "sin, transgression, trespass, offense," extended forms), probably ultimately "it is true," i.e. "the sin is real" (compare Gothic sonjis, Old Norse sannr "true"), from PIE *snt-ya-, a collective form from *es-ont- "becoming," present participle of root *es- "to be" (see is). The semantic development is via notion of "to be truly the one (who is guilty)," as in Old Norse phrase verð sannr at "be found guilty of," and the use of the phrase "it is being" in Hittite confessional formula. The same process probably yielded the Latin word sons (genitive sontis) "guilty, criminal" from present participle of sum, esse "to be, that which is." Some etymologists believe the Germanic word was an early borrowing directly from the Latin genitive. Also see sooth. Sin-eater is attested from 1680s. To live in sin "cohabit without marriage" is from 1838; used earlier in a more general sense. Ice hockey slang sin bin "penalty box" is attested from 1950.
- sin (v.)
- Old English syngian "to commit sin, transgress, err," from synn (see sin (n.)); the form influenced by the noun. Compare Old Saxon sundion, Old Frisian sendigia, Middle Dutch sondighen, Dutch zondigen, Old High German sunteon, German sündigen "to sin." Form altered from Middle English sunigen by influence of the noun.
Example
- 1. He saves us from the power of sin .
- 2. And he loved me enough to die for my sin .
- 3. Each of us has sin in our lives .
- 4. Success is the one unpardonable sin against our fellows .
- 5. Technically , it 's only a prevarication - about half a sin .