Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tinhorn

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.06 in modern English

Syllables: tin-horn
IPA

10

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Cheap, inferior; pretentious.

American usage

noun

A contemptible or pretentious person, especially one who gambles for low stakes.

American usage

Example Sentences

"“[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. They watch it all th' time b'cause they know blame well there ain't hardly room fer their feet fer th' pikers an' tin-horns an' thimble-riggers what are layin' fer 'em. […]”"
"I'm to deliver this treaty, signed by Secretary General Tanduk Timah himself. Heh. 'Tanduk Timah' in Bahasa Malay means 'Tin Horn.' How apt."

Etymology

From tin + horn, from gambling.

Word Breakdown

Prefix: tin
Suffix: horn

Usage

American usage

Inflected Forms

more tinhorn (comparative) most tinhorn (superlative) tin-horn (alternative) tinhorns (plural)

Questions

What does tinhorn mean?: Cheap, inferior; pretentious.
Where does tinhorn come from?: From tin + horn, from gambling.

How to pronounce tinhorn

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “tinhorn”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “tinhorn”.
Repeat and practice — Say “tinhorn” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.