skinflint
/ˈskɪnflɪnt/
"skinflint" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“skinflint” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - One who is excessively stingy or cautious with money; a tightwad; a miser.
Corpus desk
Index EN-skinflint · skinflint · English
skinflint · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | skinflint |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈskɪnflɪnt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “skinflint” in English
Rare enough to double-check
skinflint is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈskɪnflɪnt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "One who is excessively stingy or cautious with money; a tightwad; a miser.".
skinflint has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the phrase skin a flint (“go to extreme lengths for the sake of gain or economy”), from the brittleness and hardness of flint which makes it almost impossible to remove just its skin without shattering it. The correct English form is skinflint, spelled S-K-I-N-F-L-I-N-T.
Definition
- 1One who is excessively stingy or cautious with money; a tightwad; a miser.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how skinflint appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
You know, he is quite a different sort from the Public Prosecutor and our other provincial skinflints--fellows who shiver in their shoes before they will spend a single kopeck.
Etymology
From the phrase skin a flint (“go to extreme lengths for the sake of gain or economy”), from the brittleness and hardness of flint which makes it almost impossible to remove just its skin without shattering it.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.