shin
/ʃɪn/noun, verb
shin is spelled S-H-I-N: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.9 times per million words in written English, the 11,373rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shin means “The front part of the leg below the knee; the front edge of the shin bone: Shinbone on Wikipedia.Wikipedia” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shin is shins.
How many letters and syllables are in shin?
| Letters | 4: S-H-I-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.9 times per million words; the 11,373rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is shin?
Shin appears 4.9 times per million words in written English, the 11,373rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce shin?
- /ʃɪn/
Shin has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-shin.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with shin?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as shin.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: nish, sinh.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of shin
- shins plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- shinning participle, present
- shinned participle, past
- sheen
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shin mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The front part of the leg below the knee; the front edge of the shin bone: Shinbone on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Soccer players have to wear protective gear so they don't injure their shins.
- 2
A fishplate for a railway
- 3
The twenty-first letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others): Shin (letter) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
verb
- 1
To climb up or lower oneself down a mast, tree, rope, or the like, by embracing it alternately with the arms and legs, without help of steps, spurs, or the like.
to shin up a mast
- 2
To strike with the shin.
- 3
USslangTo run about borrowing money hastily and temporarily, as when trying to make a payment.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shin in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tibia, os long , chine, shin |
| German | Schienbein, Tibia , Schin |
| Portuguese | canela |
| Spanish | canilla, espinilla, tibia |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does shin come from?
From Middle English schyne, from Old English scinu, from Proto-West Germanic *skinu, from Proto-Germanic *skinō. Cognate with West Frisian skine, Dutch scheen, German Schiene. Not related to skin.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).