Etymologically
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bin

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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
  • 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