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PlainSpell

thin

/ˈθɪn/adjective, noun, verb, adverb

thin is spelled T-H-I-N: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 30 times per million words in written English, the 3,161st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, thin means “Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in thin?

Letters4: T-H-I-N
Syllables1
In writing30 times per million words; the 3,161st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 thin?

Thin appears 30 times per million words in written English, the 3,161st 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 thin?

  • /ˈθɪn/
  • /ˈθən/
  • /ˈfɪn/

Thin has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-thin.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-thin.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with thin?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: hint.

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 thin

  • thinner comparative
  • thinnest superlative
  • thins plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • thinning participle, present
  • thinned participle, past
  • more thin comparative
  • most thin superlative

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

What does thin mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite.

    thin plate of metal; thin paper; thin board; thin covering

  2. 2

    Very narrow in all diameters; having a cross section that is small in all directions.

    thin wire; thin string

  3. 3

    Having little body fat or flesh; slim; slender; lean; gaunt.

    thin person

  4. 4

    Of low viscosity or low specific gravity.

    Water is thinner than honey.

  5. 5

    Scarce; not close, crowded, or numerous; not filling the space.

    The trees of a forest are thin; the corn or grass is thin.

  6. 6

    Describing a poorly played golf shot where the ball is struck by the bottom part of the club head. See fat, shank, toe.

  7. 7

    Lacking body or volume; small; feeble; not full.

    a thin, tight-lipped smile

  8. 8

    Slight; small; slender; flimsy; superficial; inadequate; not sufficient for a covering.

    a thin disguise

noun

  1. 1

    A loss or tearing of paper from the back of a stamp, although not sufficient to create a complete hole.

  2. 2

    Any food produced or served in thin slices.

    chocolate mint thins

verb

  1. 1

    To make thin or thinner.

  2. 2

    To become thin or thinner.

    The crowds thinned after the procession had passed: there was nothing more to see.

  3. 3

    To dilute.

  4. 4

    To remove some plants or parts of plants in order to improve the growth of what remains.

adverb

  1. 1

    Not thickly or closely; in a scattered state.

    seed sown thin

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

Thin in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmince (having little thickness or extent from one…), maigre (having little body fat or flesh; slim; slender…), liquide (of low viscosity or low specific gravity – see…)
Germandünn, tünn (having little thickness or extent from one…), schlank (having little body fat or flesh; slim; slender…)
Portuguesefino (having little thickness or extent from one…), magro, tênue, delgado (having little body fat or flesh; slim; slender…), ralo (very narrow in all diameters; having a cross…), afinar (to make thinner)
Spanishno/poco/nada espeso (of low viscosity or low specific gravity – see…), adelgazar (to make thinner), ardalear, arralar, ralear (to become thinner), diluir (to dilute)

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 thin come from?

From Middle English thinne, thünne, thenne, from Old English þynne, from Proto-West Germanic *þunnī, from Proto-Germanic *þunnuz (“thin”) – compare *þanjaną (“to stretch, spread out”) – from Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us (“thin”), from *ten- (“to stretch”).

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

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