bin

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbɪn/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English binne, inherited from Old English binne (“manger, basket, crib”),^[2][3][4][5] probably of Celtic origin:^[2][3][5] compare Gaulish benna (“wicker cart”), preserved in Medieval Latin benna, basket, and Welsh ben (“cart”),^[2][3][4] perhaps from PIE Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to bind”).^[2][4] The same Celtic word is seen in French benne and Dutch ben.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A manger: about 750, in the poetry of Cynewulf, in Barnhart;^[2] about 950 in the OED.^[6]

Semantic evolution

A receptacle for corn, meal or bread is from about 1386.^[6][4] A case for storing bottles in a wine cellar is from 1758,^[6] and a large receptacle used in hop-picking from 1737.^[6] In Australia a bin is a compartment in a wool shed (1865).^[6] The British dustbin and the sense rubbish bin are now usual, and the verb, to throw away, follows.^[7][8]

Timeline

• c. 750 – a manger.^[2]
• c. 1386 – a corn or bread bin.^[6]
• 1737 – a hop bin.^[6]
• 1758 – a wine bin.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (chiefly British) A container for rubbish; a dustbin.
2. A large container or enclosed space for storing grain, coal or the like.
3. A rack for storing wine bottles.

Verb

1. (British informal) To throw away.

Word family

• coalbin
• woodbin
• dustbin
• loony bin

Related words

• bind
• litter bin

Usage notes

MWU records an unrelated bin, a stringed instrument of India, from Hindi bīn, from Sanskrit वीणा (vīṇā) (1874).^[5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press