chin
/ˈt͡ʃɪn/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.00 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The bottom of a face, (specifically) the typically jutting jawline below the mouth.
noun
The bottom part of a mobile phone, below the screen.
Example Sentences
- "What does it mean to have a pointy chin instead of a flat chin?"
- "To paint chins of aircraft"
- "In the cleft of the aircraft's chin is a small turret for a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) "eyeball" that will enable MH-47E pilots to see clearly in complete darkness […]"
- "Lockheed Martin's system is mounted behind a transparent, low-observable window blended into the aircraft's chin."
- "The phone's chin looks different from the rest of it."
- "“I reckon you can explain, Mrs. Peabody.” […] “An’ I reckon that newcomer you’ve been chinning with could explain if he had a mind to.”"
Etymology
From Middle English chyn, from Old English ċinn (“chin”), from Proto-West Germanic *kinnu, from Proto-Germanic *kinnuz (“chin”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénus (“chin, jaw”). Compare West Frisian/Dutch kin, Low German/German Kinn, Danish kind, Icelandic kinn, Welsh gen, Latin gena, Tocharian A śanweṃ, Ancient Greek γένυς (génus, “jaw”), Armenian ծնոտ (cnot), Persian چانه (čâne), Sanskrit हनु (hánu). Doublet of gena.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: chyn, ċinn, *kinnu, *kinnuz, *ǵénus, -
Usage
- American usage
- Slang
- British usage
- Uncountable
- Dated
- Intransitive verb
- Transitive verb
- Informal