# skin

> English word · Noun · IPA /skɪn/ · frequency rank #1,319

## Definitions
1. The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.
2. The outer protective layer of the fruit of a plant.
3. The skin and fur of an individual animal used by humans for clothing, upholstery, etc.
4. A congealed layer on the surface of a liquid.
5. A set of resources that modifies the appearance and/or layout of the graphical user interface of a computer program.
6. An alternate appearance (texture map or geometry) for a character model in a video game.
7. Rolling paper for cigarettes.
8. Clipping of skinhead.
9. A subgroup of Australian aboriginal people.
10. Bare flesh, particularly bare breasts.
11. A vessel made of skin, used for holding liquids.
12. That part of a sail, when furled, which remains on the outside and covers the whole.
13. 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. The outer surface covering much of the wings and fuselage of an aircraft.
15. A drink of whisky served hot.
16. A person; chap.
17. A purse.
18. A member of the team not wearing shirts, in a shirts and skins game.

## Etymology
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”).

## Easily confused with
- **son** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-son)
- **sun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-sun)
- **sky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-sky)
- **STI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-sti)
- **Sui** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-sui)
- **syn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-syn)
- **SSI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-ssi)
- **soi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-soi)
- **SSN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-ssn)
- **soon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-soon)
- **suit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-suit)
- **soil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-soil)
- **spin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-spin)
- **slip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-slip)
- **skip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-skip)
- **swim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-swim)
- **span** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-span)
- **stan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-stan)
- **slim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-slim)
- **stir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skin-vs-stir)

## Common misspellings (6)
`ksin`, `sikn`, `skinn`, `skkin`, `skni`, `sskin`

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