skin English · revision 2703

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1200, Ormulum|origins=non skinn}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /skɪn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|skinn]],^(Barnhart 1988) [[bor|non|skinn|t=animal hide, fur]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[gem-pro|*skinþą]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the source also of rare late Old English scinn,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) Middle High German schint “peel of a fruit” and German schinden “to flay”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) Outside Germanic it is probably cognate with Old Irish ceinn “scale” and Breton scant “fish scale”,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) from [[ine-pro|*sken-|t=to peel off, flay]], an extended form of *sek- “to cut”.^(Etymonline) The usual Old English word was [[hide]].^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) The verb is from the noun.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An animal hide or pelt, usually dressed: probably before 1200, in the ''Ormulum'',^(Barnhart 1988) about 1200.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The skin of a living body is from probably before 1325^(Barnhart 1988) or the early 14th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word was extended to the skins of fruits and vegetables in the late 14th century.^(Etymonline) The verb first meant “to circumcise”, implied in 1392,^(Barnhart 1988) and “to remove the skin from” from before 1400;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) “to cover with skin” is from the 1540s.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In 19th-century American colloquial use ''skin'' meant “to fleece, plunder”, hence ''skin game'' (1868).^(Etymonline) ''Skin deep'', “superficial”, is by the 1610s.^(Etymonline) ''By the skin of one's teeth'', from the mid-16th century, comes from a misquotation of the Book of Job, “I am escaped with the skin of my teeth”.^(Cresswell 2021) ''Skinny'' first meant “of the skin” about 1400,^(Barnhart 1988) and ''skint'', from the 1920s, is a variant of skinned.^(Cresswell 2021) In jazz slang a skin is a drum, from 1927.^(Etymonline) The adjective, “involving nudity”, as in ''skin magazine'', is from about 1935 in Merriam-Webster^(MWU 2024) and 1968 in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) ''Skin diving'' is from 1938.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – an animal hide.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * before 1325 – the skin of a body.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1392 – verb, to circumcise.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * late 14th century – the skin of a fruit.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1540s – verb, to cover with skin.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1610s – ''skin deep''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1868 – ''skin game''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1927 – a drum (jazz slang).^(Etymonline)

+ * 1938 – ''skin diving''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The outer layer of tissue covering the body of a person or animal.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # The hide or pelt of an animal.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # The outer layer of a fruit or vegetable; a [[peel]] or [[rind]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A thin layer that forms on a liquid; an outer covering, as of an aircraft.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(computing)'' A design that changes the look of a program's interface.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To remove the skin from.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To scrape the skin from (a part of the body) by accident.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(informal)'' To cheat out of money; to [[swindle]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Involving nudity: ''a skin magazine''.^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[skinless]]

+ * [[skinlike]]

+ * [[skinflint]]

+ * [[skinner]]

+ * [[skinnery]]

+ * [[thin-skinned]]

+ * [[thick-skinned]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[skinny]]

+ * [[skint]]

+ * [[skinhead]]

+ * [[hide]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Skinhead'' first named US Marine recruits in the 1950s, for their cropped hair, before it was used of the British youth movement of the 1970s.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}