Meaning & use
shin
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Meanings
nouncountable
The front of the leg between the knee and the ankle, where the bone lies just under the skin.
Grammar: Each leg has one: she banged her shin on the table.
Patterns
- hit your shin on something
- kick someone in the shin
He banged his shin on the coffee table in the dark.
The goalkeeper wore guards to protect his shins.
A bruise had spread across her shin after the fall.
verbintransitiveinformal
To climb a pole, rope, or tree by gripping it with the arms and legs.
Grammar: Usually followed by up or down: shin up a pole.
Patterns
- shin up something
- shin down something
The boy shinned up the tree to rescue the kite.
She shinned down the rope with practiced ease.
He had to shin up the flagpole to free the tangled flag.
nouncountable or uncountableBritish
A cut of beef taken from the lower leg of the animal.
Grammar: Often used before beef: shin of beef, beef shin.
Patterns
- shin of beef
Slow-cooked shin makes a rich, tender stew.
The butcher recommended shin of beef for the soup.
We simmered the shin for three hours with onions.
Word forms
| plural | shins |
|---|---|
| third person singular | shins |
| past tense | shinned |
| past participle | shinned |
| -ing form | shinning |
Common combinations
- bark your shin
- He barked his shin on the open dishwasher door.
- kick someone in the shin
- The child kicked her brother in the shin.
- shin guards
- Soccer players must wear shin guards in matches.
- shin up a tree
- He shinned up the tree to reach the kitten.
- shin splints
- Running on hard roads gave her shin splints.
Synonyms and how they differ
- shinbone
- Shinbone names the bone itself, while shin refers to the whole front part of the lower leg.
- tibia
- Tibia is the medical term for the shinbone and is used in anatomy rather than everyday talk.
- climb
- Climb is the general verb, while shin up describes a specific way of climbing by gripping with arms and legs.
Word family
- shinbone noun
- the large bone at the front of the lower leg
- shin guard noun
- a pad that protects the front of the leg in sport
- shin splints noun
- pain along the front of the lower leg from exercise
Commonly confused: shin or shine?
shin vs shine
Shine is a verb about giving light, and its past tense is shone. Shin is a body part, and as a verb its past tense is shinned.
Practice
Which sentence uses the verb shin correctly?
Choose one answer.
As a verb, shin means to climb by gripping, and it is normally followed by up or down. The other sentences give it meanings it does not have.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “shin”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.