skein
/skeɪn/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.34 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape; a skein of cotton is formed by eighty turns of thread around a reel with a fifty-four inch diameter.
noun
A thing resembling a skein (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1) of thread, yarn, etc.
British usage
noun
Example Sentences
- "Some for very nede / Layde downe a skeyne of threde, / And some a skeyne of yarne; […]"
- "Reche me that skane of tewly sylk; / And, Wynde me that botowme of such an hew, / Grene, rede, tawny, whyte, blak, purpill, and blew."
- "Brau'd in mine ovvne houſe vvith a skeine of thred: / Avvay thou Ragge, thou quantitie, thou remnant, / Or I ſhall ſo be-mete thee vvith thy yard, / As thou ſhalt thinke on prating vvhil'ſt thou liu'ſt: […]"
- "No vvhy art thou then exaſperate, thou idle immaterial skiene of ſleiue ſilke, thou greene ſacenet flap for a ſore eye, thou toſſell of a Prodigals purſe—thou […]"
- "VVhat is ſhe heire to? a braſſe thimble, and / A skeane of brovvn thread?"
- "Suppoſe novv a VVork-houſe for Employment of Poor Children, ſets them to ſpinning of VVorſted.—For every Skein of VVorſted theſe Poor Children Spin, there muſt be a Skein the leſs Spun by ſome poor Family or Perſon that ſpun it before; […] 'tis only the tranſpoſing the Manufacture from Colcheſter to London, and taking the Bread out of the Mouths of the Poor of Eſſex to put it into the Mouths of the Poor of Middleſex."
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English skaine, skayne (“quantity of string, thread, etc., wound on a reel; the string, thread, etc., so wound”), from Old French escaigne (modern French écagne, écaigne (Picardy)); further etymology uncertain, probably from Proto-Celtic, from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to split off”). The verb is derived from noun. cognates * Irish scáinne (“skein, clew”)
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *skend-, skaine, escaigne, -, *skey-, scheen
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /skeɪn/
- British English: /skeɪn/
Usage
- British usage
- Obsolete
- American usage
- Dated
- Transitive verb