# chine

> English word · Noun · IPA /t͡ʃaɪn/ · frequency rank #51,609

## Definitions
1. The top of a ridge.
2. The spine of an animal.
3. A piece of the backbone of an animal, with the adjoining parts, cut for cooking.
4. A sharp angle in the cross section of a hull.
5. A longitudinal line of sharp change in the cross-section profile of the fuselage or similar body.
6. A hollowed or bevelled channel in the waterway of a ship's deck.
7. The edge or rim of a cask, etc., formed by the projecting ends of the staves; the chamfered end of a stave.
8. The back of the blade on a scythe.

## Etymology
From Middle English chyne, from Old French eschine, from Frankish *skinu, from Proto-Germanic *skinō. Doublet of shin.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/chine