sinew

Meaning

Noun

1. A cord or tendon of the body.
2. A cord or string, particularly (music) as of a musical instrument.
3. Muscular power, muscle; nerve, nervous energy; vigor, vigorous strength.
4. That which gives strength or in which strength consists; a supporting factor or member; mainstay.
5. (obsolete) A nerve.

Verb

To knit together or make strong with, or as if with, sinews.

Synonyms

tendon

muscle

💪

vein

nerve

strength

string

🪢

force

muscularity

power

brawniness

ligament

artery

cord

brawn

heftiness

stripe

thew

thread

🧵

track

vehemence

tie together

violence

arteria

chorda

cartilage

energy

footstep

forcefulness

grain

gristle

leader

line

mainstay

neuron

potency

racquet

root

strengthen

Hyphenated as

sin‧ew

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsɪnjuː/

Etymology

From Middle English synwe, synewe (“tendon; ligament or other connective tissue; muscle; nerve; leaf vein”), from Old English sinu (“tendon, sinew; nerve”), from Proto-West Germanic *sinu, from Proto-Germanic *sinwō, *senawō (“sinew”), from Proto-Indo-European *snḗh₁wr̥ (“tendon, sinew”), from *(s)neh₁- (“to twist (threads), spin, weave”).
The word is cognate with sinnow (“sinew”), Scots senon, sinnon, Saterland Frisian Siene (“sinew”), West Frisian senuw, sine (“sinew; nerve”), Dutch zenuw (“nerve, sinew”), German Sehne (“tendon, sinew; cord”), Icelandic sin (“tendon”), Swedish sena (“sinew”), Avestan 𐬯𐬥𐬁𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬭 (snāuuar, “tendon, sinew”), Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “tendon; nerve; cord”), Latin nervus (“tendon, sinew; nerve”), Sanskrit स्नावन् (snāván, “sinew, tendon; muscle”), Tocharian B ṣñor (“sinew”). Doublet of nerve and neuron.