skin

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable) The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.
2. (uncountable) The outer protective layer of the fruit of a plant.
3. (countable) The skin and fur of an individual animal used by humans for clothing, upholstery, etc.
4. (countable) A congealed layer on the surface of a liquid.
5. (countable) A set of resources that modifies the appearance and/or layout of the graphical user interface of a computer program.
6. (countable) An alternate appearance (texture map or geometry) for a character model in a video game.
7. (countable, slang) Rolling paper for cigarettes.
8. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, countable, slang) Clipping of skinhead.
9. (Australia, countable, uncountable) A subgroup of Australian aboriginal people.
10. (countable, slang, uncountable) Bare flesh, particularly bare breasts.
11. (countable, uncountable) A vessel made of skin, used for holding liquids.
12. (countable, uncountable) That part of a sail, when furled, which remains on the outside and covers the whole.
13. (countable, uncountable) The covering, as of planking or iron plates, outside the framing, forming the sides and bottom of a vessel; the shell; also, a lining inside the framing.
14. (countable, uncountable) The outer surface covering much of the wings and fuselage of an aircraft.
15. (countable, uncountable) A drink of whisky served hot.
16. (British, Ireland, countable, slang, uncountable) A person; chap.
17. (UK, countable, obsolete, uncountable) A purse.

Verb

1. (transitive) To injure the skin of.
2. (transitive) To remove the skin and/or fur of an animal or a human.
3. (colloquial) To high five.
4. (colloquial, transitive) To apply a skin to (a computer program).
5. (UK, transitive) To use tricks to go past a defender.
6. (intransitive) To become covered with skin.
7. (transitive) To cover with skin, or as if with skin; hence, to cover superficially.
8. (US, archaic, slang) To produce, in recitation, examination, etc., the work of another for one's own, or to use cribs, memoranda, etc., which are prohibited.
9. (dated, slang) To strip of money or property; to cheat.
10. (intransitive, obsolete, slang) To sneak off.
11. (abbreviation, alt-of) Short for skin up (“travel uphill on skis, snowboard, or bicycle”)

Synonyms

peel

hide

bark

flay

shell

🐚

leather

rind

husk

pelt

fur

hull

strip

dermis

peel off

crust

cutis

integument

body

flesh

🥩

epidermis

peeling

pare

strip off

butcher

tegument

tear off

scrape

cover

pod

casing

bark of tree

graze

shuck

disrobe

rip off

cutaneous

deprive of

tongue

👅

uncover

excoriate

envelope

✉️

eye

👁️

deprive

detach

coat

🧥

epithelium

cuticle

nose

👃

incrustation

involve

Translations

peau

piel

Haut

pelle

pele

huid

écorcher

δέρμα

pell

vel

häuten

buccia

Schale

cuero

Pronounced as (IPA)

/skɪn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: skyn

Inherited from Old English: scinn

Cognate with Dutch: schinde

Cognate with Breton: skant

Cognate with Old Irish: ceinn

Cognate with Irish: scainim

Cognate with Latin: scindo

Cognate with Sanskrit: छिनत्ति

In summary

From Middle English skyn, skinn, from Old English scinn, from Old Norse skinn (“animal hide”), from Proto-Germanic *skinþą, from Proto-Indo-European *sken- (“to split off”), nasal variant of *skeh₁i-d- (“to cut”). Partially displaced native Old English hȳd (“skin, hide”), from which derives hide.
Cognate with Dutch schinde (“bark”), dialectal German Schinde (“fruit peel”); also Breton skant (“scales”), Old Irish cenn (“covering, shell”), Irish scáin (“to tear, burst”), Latin scindō (“to split, divide”), Sanskrit छिनत्ति (chinátti, “to split”).