skint
/skɪnt/
"skint" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“skint” is an uncommon English word, ranked #58,367 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #58,367
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Penniless, poor, impecunious, broke.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | skint |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /skɪnt/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #58,367 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “skint” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for skint is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /skɪnt/. Corpus data places it at rank #58,367 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
skint has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: The "penniless" sense is attested since 1925 and is derived from a variant of skinned Note also 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… The correct English form is skint, spelled S-K-I-N-T.
Definition
- 1Penniless, poor, impecunious, broke.
- 2skinned
Etymology
The "penniless" sense is attested since 1925 and is derived from a variant of skinned Note also 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.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “skint”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-K-I-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /skɪnt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.