Meaning & use
loin
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
A large cut of meat taken from the back of an animal, between the ribs and the hind leg, valued for being tender.
Grammar: Uncountable for the meat in general (pork loin is lean), countable for a single cut (a loin of lamb).
Patterns
- a loin of something
- loin of pork
She roasted a pork loin with garlic and rosemary.
A loin of lamb was served with mint sauce.
Beef loin is more tender than meat cut from the leg.
nounusually pluralliteraryold-fashioned
The part of the human body at the lower back and sides, between the ribs and the hips.
Grammar: Usually appears as loins in this sense: pain in the loins.
Patterns
- the loins of someone
- pain in the loins
He felt a sharp pain in his loins after lifting the sack.
In the old story, the soldiers tied their robes about their loins.
The doctor pressed gently on her lower back and loins.
nounusually pluralliteraryfigurative
The reproductive organs, used in a poetic way to refer to where children come from.
Grammar: Appears in the plural in fixed literary phrases, such as fruit of his loins.
Patterns
- the fruit of someone's loins
- sprung from someone's loins
The king boasted that kings would spring from his loins.
He spoke proudly of the sons who came from his loins.
The old text describes a nation born from the loins of one man.
Word forms
| plural | loins |
|---|
Common combinations
- pork loin
- A pork loin takes about an hour to roast.
- loin chop
- He grilled a lamb loin chop for dinner.
- tenderloin
- The tenderloin is the softest part of the loin.
- gird your loins
- Gird your loins; the negotiations begin tomorrow.
- fruit of one's loins
- He introduced her as the fruit of his loins.
- loin of veal
- The restaurant serves a loin of veal with mushrooms.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sirloin
- Sirloin is one specific cut from the upper loin of beef, whereas loin is the wider area of meat.
- tenderloin
- Tenderloin is the most tender muscle within the loin, so it names a smaller, pricier cut.
- flank
- Flank is the meat from the side of the animal below the loin, and is tougher and leaner.
- lower back
- Lower back is the ordinary modern phrase for the body part, while loins sounds old-fashioned or biblical.
Word family
- loincloth noun
- a simple piece of cloth worn around the hips
- sirloin noun
- a cut of beef from the upper part of the loin
- tenderloin noun
- a very tender narrow cut of meat along the backbone
Commonly confused: loin or lion?
loin vs lion
A lion is the big cat and is pronounced /ˈlaɪən/, with two syllables. Loin is one syllable, rhyming with coin, and refers to meat or part of the body.
Practice
The butcher recommended a pork loin because it is _____.
Choose one answer.
Loin comes from the back of the animal, a muscle that does little work, so it is lean and tender. The other descriptions fit tougher or cheaper cuts such as the shoulder.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “loin”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.