Thin
History: 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”). Cognate with German dünn, Dutch dun, West Frisian tin, Icelandic þunnur, Danish tynd, Swedish tunn, Latin tenuis, Irish tanaí, Welsh tenau, Latvian tievs, Polish cienki, Russian тонкий (tonkij), Sanskrit तनु (tanú, “thin”), Persian تنگ (tang, “narrow”). Doublet of tenuis. Also related to tenuous.
Origin: adj
Definition: 1. Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite. 2. Very narrow in all diameters; having a cross section that is small in all directions. 3. Having little body fat or flesh; slim; slender; lean; gaunt. 4. Of low viscosity or low specific gravity. 5. Scarce; not close, crowded, or numerous; not filling the space. 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. Lacking body or volume; small; feeble; not full. 8. Slight; small; slender; flimsy; superficial; inadequate; not sufficient for a covering.
Art-ı Artificial Mind Analysis
BETAOrigin and History
The word thin originates from Old English þinn, a comparative form of þin “tender, weak.” Both stem from the Proto‑Germanic root *thinaz, which meant “slender, fragile.” The term migrated into Middle English unchanged in spelling and sense, gradually acquiring a broader range of meanings. By the 14th century it was used not only to describe physical narrowness but also figurative states of poverty, delicacy, and lack of substance. The modern noun thinness (late 15th c.) and the adjective thin‑ish (early 20th c.) illustrate its continued evolution.
Depth of Meaning
Thin is a word that balances lightness and emptiness. In its most literal sense it denotes lack of breadth or mass, but it also carries an emotional register: a thin smile suggests hesitation; a thin line of hope feels fragile. Connotatively, it can evoke vulnerability (“the thin veil of secrecy”) or austerity (“thin‑lined budgets”). In literature, “thin” often marks the margin between existence and oblivion—where a character’s life feels just as “thin” as a paper strip. It can be positive—lean, efficient—or negative—feeble, deficient, or meager.
Usage Example
“The night was thin, a faint ribbon of moonlight slipping through the clouds.” – Virginia Woolf, *The Waves* (1931)
This sentence captures the visual delicacy of a night that is not fully dark, using thin to convey both the physical slenderness of moonlight and its metaphorical fragility.
This was produced by an artificial mind: capricious, and not entirely serious.
Most-read poems featuring this word
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The Crack-Up F. Scott Fitzgerald360 reads
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Turkish-Greek Poem Bülent Ecevit112 reads
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This is it? Bülent Somay108 reads
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The Raven Edgar Allan Poe104 reads
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Wake Up, Sir! Jonathan Ames98 reads
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The Face of Garbo Roland Barthes94 reads
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The Waste Land Thomas Stearns Eliot93 reads
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Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came Robert Browning89 reads
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Rabbi Ben Ezra Robert Browning78 reads
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İstanbul Michel Butor74 reads