thin

English

Etymology

From Middle English thinne, thünne, thenne, from Old English þynne, from Proto-West Germanic *þunnī, from Proto-Germanic *þunnuz (“thin”) – compare *þanjaną (“to stretch, spread out”) – from Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us (“thin”), from *ten- (“to stretch”).

Cognate with German dünn, Dutch dun, West Frisian tin, Icelandic þunnur, Danish tynd, Swedish tunn, Latin tenuis, Irish tanaí, Welsh tenau, Latvian tievs, Sanskrit तनु (tanú, “thin”), Persian تنگ‎ (tang, “narrow”). Doublet of tenuis. Also related to tenuous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪn

Adjective

thin (comparative thinner, superlative thinnest)

1. Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite.

   thin plate of metal;  thin paper;  thin board;  thin covering

   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 7, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:

     Out of spite, the human beings pretended not to believe that it was Snowball who had destroyed the windmill: they said that it had fallen down because the walls were too thin.

   • Thickness definition

     The property of being thick (in dimension). (1 of 6 thickness definitions)

   • Extent definition

     A range of values or locations. (1 of 5 extent definitions)

   • Surface definition

     The overside or up-side of a flat object such as a table, or of a liquid. (1 of 4 surface definitions)
2. Very narrow in all diameters; having a cross section that is small in all directions.

   thin wire; thin string

   • Narrow definition

     Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth. (1 of 9 narrow definitions)

   • Cross Section definition

     A section formed by a plane cutting through an object, usually at right angles to an axis. (1 of 3 cross section definitions)
3. Having little body fat or flesh; slim; slender; lean; gaunt.

   thin person

   • Slim definition

     Slender, thin.

     1. Slender in an attractive way. (1 of 8 slim definitions)

   • Slender definition

     Thin; slim. (1 of 3 slender definitions)

   • Lean definition

     To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating. (1 of 5 lean definitions)

   • Gaunt definition

     Lean, angular, and bony. (1 of 3 gaunt definitions)
4. Of low viscosity or low specific gravity.

   Water is thinner than honey.

   • Viscosity definition

     The state of being viscous. (1 of 3 viscosity definitions)

   • Specific Gravity definition

     The ratio of the mass of a substance to that of an equal volume of water at 4°C (or to some other reference substance)
5. Scarce; not close, crowded, or numerous; not filling the space.

   The trees of a forest are thin; the corn or grass is thin.

   • 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Ferrara is very large, but extremely thin of people.

   • Scarce definition

     Uncommon, rare; difficult to find; insufficient to meet a demand. (1 of 2 scarce definitions)
6. (golf) Describing a poorly played golf shot where the ball is struck by the bottom part of the club head. See fat, shank, toe.

   • Golf definition

     Alternative letter-case form of Golf of the ICAO/NATO radiotelephony alphabet.

   • Fat definition

     ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Fante.

   • Shank definition

     The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle. (1 of 18 shank definitions)

   • Toe definition

     Each of the five digits on the end of the foot. (1 of 13 toe definitions)
7. Lacking body or volume; small; feeble; not full.

   a thin, tight-lipped smile

   • 1690, [John] Dryden, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: […], London: […] Jo. Hindmarsh, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

     thin, hollow sounds, and lamentable screams

8. Slight; small; slender; flimsy; superficial; inadequate; not sufficient for a covering.

   a thin disguise

9. (aviation) Of a route: relatively little used.
   • 2016, Hartmut Wolf, Peter Forsyth, David Gillen, Liberalization in Aviation, page 105:

     In short, we previously found that thin routes benefit from an increase in competition in the Spanish airline market when considering routes that were monopoly routes in 2001.

   • Aviation definition

     The art or science of making and flying aircraft. (1 of 5 aviation definitions)
10. Poor; scanty; without money or success.
    • 1945, Jack Henry, What Price Crime?, page 92:

      Like their friends the "draggers," the "hoisters" or shoplifters are having a thin time these days, […]

Synonyms

• (having little thickness from one surface to its opposite): narrow; see also Thesaurus:narrow
• (very narrow in all diameters): fine
• (having little body fat or flesh): reedy, skinny, slender, slim, svelte, waifish; see also Thesaurus:slender or Thesaurus:scrawny
• (of low viscosity): runny, watery; see also Thesaurus:runny
• (not close or crowded): spaced out, sparse; see also Thesaurus:diffuse
• (not numerous): scant, scarce, slight

Antonyms

• thick

Derived terms

Related terms

• thinness

Translations

Noun

thin (plural thins)

1. (philately) A loss or tearing of paper from the back of a stamp, although not sufficient to create a complete hole.

   • Philately definition

     Stamp collecting. (1 of 2 philately definitions)
2. Any food produced or served in thin slices.

   chocolate mint thins

   potato thins

   wheat thins

   • Food definition

     Any solid substance that can be consumed by living organisms, especially by eating, in order to sustain life. (1 of 4 food definitions)

Translations

Verb

thin (third-person singular simple present thins, present participle thinning, simple past and past participle thinned)

1. (transitive) To make thin or thinner.

   • Thinner definition

     comparative form of thin: more thin
2. (intransitive) To become thin or thinner.

   The crowds thinned after the procession had passed: there was nothing more to see.

3. To dilute.

   • Dilute definition

     To make thinner by adding solvent to a solution, especially by adding water. (1 of 4 dilute definitions)
4. To remove some plants or parts of plants in order to improve the growth of what remains.
   • 2015 September 5, Mark Diacono, “In praise of the Asian pear”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎^[1], archived from the original on 12 September 2015, page 3:

     So floriferous are Asian pears, and the tree so laden with young fruit, that as the tree approaches maturity it is worth considering thinning the fruit (I can't quite bring myself to thin the flowers) so as to neither overburden the tree for this year nor tire it for the next. Thinning early in the season, while the fruit is small, is ideal.

   • Remove definition

     To delete. (1 of 9 remove definitions)

   • Plant definition

     An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis. Typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree. (1 of 17 plant definitions)

Derived terms

• thin out

Translations

Adverb

thin (comparative more thin, superlative most thin)

1. Not thickly or closely; in a scattered state.

   seed sown thin

   • a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a VVarre vvith Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany VVorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC:

     Spain is a nation thin sown of people.

Further reading

• “thin”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “thin”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “thin”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Nith, hint

Middle English

Etymology 1

Determiner

thin (subjective pronoun þou)

1. Alternative form of þin (“thy”)

   • Þin definition

     (1 of 2 þin definitions)

Pronoun

thin (subjective þou)

1. Alternative form of þin (“thine”)

Etymology 2

Adjective

thin

1. Alternative form of thinne (“thin”)

   • Thinne definition

     (1 of 7 thinne definitions)

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *þīn.

Determiner

thīn

1. thy, your (singular)

   • Thy definition

     Possessive form of thou: that which belongs to thee; which belongs to you .

   • Your definition

     Belonging to you; of you; related to you (singular; one owner). (1 of 4 your definitions)
2. thine, yours

   • Thine definition

     Singular second person prevocalic possessive determiner (preconsonantal form: thy).

   • Yours definition

     That which belongs to you (singular); the possessive second-person singular pronoun used without a following noun. (1 of 3 yours definitions)

Inflection

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: dijn
  • Dutch: dijn
  • Limburgish: dien

Further reading

• “thīn”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old High German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ðiːn/

Determiner

thīn

1. Alternative form of din

   • Din definition

     ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Dinka.

References

1. Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer, Second Edition

Old Saxon

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *þīn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θiːn/
• (late Old Saxon) IPA^(key): [ðiːn]

Determiner

thīn

1. thy, your (singular)
2. thine, yours

Declension

See also

References

• Köbler, Gerhard, Altsächsisches Wörterbuch (5th edition 2014)

1. Altsächsisches Elementarbuch by Dr. F. Holthausen

Etymology 2

See here.

Determiner

thin

1. instrumental singular masculine/neuter of thē

   • The definition

     Used before a noun phrase, including a simple noun

     1. The definite grammatical article that implies necessarily that the noun phrase it immediately precedes is definitely identifiable
        1. because it has already been mentioned, is to be completely specified in the same sentence, or very shortly thereafter. (1 of 16 the definitions)

Welsh

Noun

thin

1. Aspirate mutation of tin.

   • Tin definition

     A malleable, ductile, metallic element, resistant to corrosion, with atomic number 50 and symbol Sn. (1 of 6 tin definitions)

Mutation