Etymologically
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thin

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /θɪn/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English thinne, inherited from Old English þynne (“narrow, lean, scanty, weak”),[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *thunnuz,[3][4] the source also of Dutch dun, German dünn and Old Norse þunnr.[2][3] It is from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”),[2][4] the source also of Latin tenuis “thin”, Sanskrit tanú- “thin” and Old Irish tanae,[3][5] so that it is related to tenuous, extenuate and tend.[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of parts placed far apart, sparse: 849 in the OED and Barnhart.[7][3] Having little thickness: before 900.[7]

Semantic evolution

Lean, not fat, is from about 1000.[7] Of plants and hair, sparse, is from about 1300,[2] and of air, rarefied, from the late 14th century, with thin air from the late 15th century, as in Shakespeare's Tempest.[2] Easily seen through, as an excuse, is from 1613.[7] Of a group, not numerous, is from 1508.[7] Thin-skinned meant having a thin skin in 1598 and sensitive to criticism from 1680.[3] The thin end of the wedge is from the mid-19th century.[6] The verb, Old English þynnian “to make thin, dilute”, is from about 900,[7][3] and to become thin from 1804.[2][7]

Timeline

  • 849 – sparse.[7][3]
  • a. 900 – of little thickness.[7]
  • c. 1000 – lean.[7]
  • late 15th century – thin air.[2]
  • 1613 – easily seen through.[7]
  • 1680 – thin-skinned, sensitive.[3]
  • 1804 – verb, to become thin.[2][7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Having a small distance between opposite sides.
  2. Having little fat on the body; slim.
  3. Not dense; sparse: thin hair.
  4. Of a liquid, watery.
  5. Weak or unconvincing: a thin excuse.

Verb

  1. To make or become thinner or less dense.

Word family

  • thinly
  • thinness
  • thinnish
  • microthin
  • overthin
  • superthin
  • ultrathin
  • paper-thin

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press