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PlainSpell

skin

/skɪn/noun, verb

skin is spelled S-K-I-N: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 81 times per million words in written English, the 1,302nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, skin means “The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of skin is skins.

How many letters and syllables are in skin?

Letters4: S-K-I-N
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing81 times per million words; the 1,302nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 skin?

Skin appears 81 times per million words in written English, the 1,302nd 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 skin?

  • /skɪn/

Skin 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-skin.ogg, En-uk-skin.ogg, En-au-skin.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with skin?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as skin.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: sink.

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 skin

  • skins plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • skinning participle, present
  • skinned participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does skin mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.

    He is so disgusting he makes my skin crawl.

  2. 2

    The outer protective layer of the fruit of a plant.

  3. 3

    The skin and fur of an individual animal used by humans for clothing, upholstery, etc.

  4. 4

    A congealed layer on the surface of a liquid.

    In order to get to the rest of the paint in the can, you′ll have to remove the skin floating on top of it.

  5. 5

    A set of resources that modifies the appearance and/or layout of the graphical user interface of a computer program.

    You can use this skin to change how the browser looks.

  6. 6

    An alternate appearance (texture map or geometry) for a character model in a video game.

    My friend likes to use a Spider-Man skin in Fortnite.

  7. 7

    slangRolling paper for cigarettes.

    Pass me a skin, mate.

  8. 8

    slangClipping of skinhead.

verb

  1. 1

    To injure the skin of.

    He fell off his bike and skinned his knee on the concrete.

  2. 2

    To remove the skin and/or fur of an animal or a human.

  3. 3

    colloquialTo high five.

  4. 4

    colloquialTo apply a skin to (a computer program).

    Can I skin the application to put the picture of my cat on it?

  5. 5

    UKTo use tricks to go past a defender.

  6. 6

    To become covered with skin or a skin-like layer.

    A wound eventually skins over.

  7. 7

    To cover with skin, or as if with skin; hence, to cover superficially.

  8. 8

    USarchaicslangTo produce, in recitation, examination, etc., the work of another for one's own, or to use cribs, memoranda, etc., which are prohibited.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Skin in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpeau (outer protective layer of the body of a person…), apparence (image used as the background of graphical user…), écorcher, égratigner (to injure the skin of), dépouiller, peler (to remove the skin of)
GermanHaut (outer protective layer of the body of a person…), Design (image used as the background of graphical user…), aufschürfen (to injure the skin of), häuten (to remove the skin of), Häutchen (congealed layer on the surface of a liquid)
Portuguesepele (outer protective layer of the body of a person…), capa (image used as the background of graphical user…), esfolar, raspar (to injure the skin of), película (congealed layer on the surface of a liquid), casca (outer protective layer of fruit)
Spanishpiel, pellejo, tegumento (outer protective layer of the body of a person…), despellejar, desollar (to remove the skin of), hollejo (outer protective layer of fruit)

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 skin come from?

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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after skin