Word.ws English Dictionary

chin

/ˈt͡ʃɪn/

chin noun: the bottom of a face, (specifically) the typically jutting jawline below the mouth.

chin: the bottom of a face, (specifically) the typically jutting jawline below the mouth
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

chin (plural chins)

  1. The bottom of a face, (specifically) the typically jutting jawline below the mouth.
    • What does it mean to have a pointy chin instead of a flat chin?
    Synonyms:
    mentum
  2. (US, slang) Talk.
  3. (UK, slang) A lie, a falsehood.
  4. (UK, slang) A person of the upper class.
  5. (uncountable) The ability to withstand being punched in the chin without being knocked out.
  6. The lower part of the front of an aircraft, below the nose.
    • To paint chins of aircraft
    • In the cleft of the aircraft's chin is a small turret for a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) "eyeball" that will enable MH-47E pilots to see clearly in complete darkness […]1990, Army, volume 40
  7. The bottom part of a mobile phone, below the screen.
    • The phone's chin looks different from the rest of it.

Verb

chin (third-person singular simple present chins, present participle chinning, simple past and past participle chinned)

  1. (dated, intransitive, slang) To talk.
    • “I reckon you can explain, Mrs. Peabody.” […] “An’ I reckon that newcomer you’ve been chinning with could explain if he had a mind to.”1912, Jack London, chapter 5, in Smoke Bellew, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 141
    • This little chore involved getting up at 3 A.M., working about two hours, then sitting around chinning and drinking coffee with the radio operators until too late to go back to sleep.1944, Ernie Pyle, chapter 1, in Brave Men, New York: Henry Holt, page 3
    Synonyms:
    gab
  2. (dated, slang, transitive) To talk to or with (someone).
    • “Been up chinning your sporting editor, Ragsy Hurd. […]”1911, Henry Sydnor Harrison, chapter 7, in Queed, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 85
    • “What do you suppose that Seagreave’s chinning Hughie about[?]”1912, Nancy Mann Waddel Woodrow, chapter 12, in The Black Pearl, New York: Appleton, page 239
  3. (intransitive, reflexive) To perform a chin-up (exercise in which one lifts one's own weight while hanging from a bar).
    • It is worth noting that on the eighth day he was strong enough to “chin” himself six times in succession, though previous to the fasting treatment he had never in his life been able to do this more than once or twice.1913, Upton Sinclair, The Fasting Cure, New York: Mitchell Kennerley, page 34
    • A description of the cour would be incomplete without an enumeration of the manifold duties of the planton in charge, which were as follows: to prevent the men from using the horizontal bar, except for chinning, since if you swung yourself upon it you could look over the wall into the women’s cour...1922, E. E. Cummings, chapter 4, in The Enormous Room, New York: Modern Library, published 1949, page 80
  4. (UK, transitive) To punch or hit (someone), especially on the chin (part of the body).
    • He told me once that he used to be scared to death every time he started in a hard game for fear he’d get badly injured. Said it wasn’t until someone had jabbed him in the nose or ‘chinned’ him that he forgot to be scared.1915, Ralph Henry Barbour, chapter 14, in Left Tackle Thayer, New York: Dodd, Mead, pages 183–184
    • ‘I’m in trouble, I hit a policeman—chinned him. He was messin’ me about, pushin’ me around on the pavement, so I chinned him, didn’t I? […]’1966, Nell Dunn, “OUT with the Boys”, in Up the Junction, Philadelphia: Lippincott, page 88
  5. (transitive) To put or hold (a musical instrument) up to one's chin.
    • Conspicuous in the front rank of “the music” was Joe Lippett, chinning his fife […]1849 September, Alfred Billings Street, “General Training”, in Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art, volume 35, number 3, page 137
    • A comical fellow hopped down from a stump and chinned his fiddle while Prince Chang stared.1925, Arthur Bowie Chrisman, “Four Generals”, in Shen of the Sea: Chinese Stories for Children, New York: E.P. Dutton, published 1968, page 82
  6. (transitive) To turn on or operate (a device) using one's chin; to select (a particular setting) using one's chin.
    • I was too tired to argue; I chinned the valve three or four times, felt a blast blistering my face.1958, Robert Heinlein, chapter 8, in Have Space Suit—Will Travel, New York: Del Rey, page 160
    • I landed kind of sloppily on hands and knees and chinned the squad frequency. “First squad sound off!”1985, Joe Haldeman, “You Can Never Go Back”, in Dealing in Futures, New York: Viking, page 154
  7. (transitive) To put one's chin on (something).
    • […] she elbowed the table and chinned her hand.1977, Ian Wallace, chapter 26, in The Sign of the Mute Medusa, New York: Popular Library, page 243
    • He chinned the alley fence and looked both ways along it.1994, Garry Disher, chapter 7, in Crosskill, St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, page 35
  8. (transitive) To indicate or point toward (someone or something) with one's chin.
    • But you don’t love him, said Madame Sonia with understanding. Do you love this one? Madame Sonia chinned the American.2004, Han Ong, The Disinherited, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Part 4, Chapter 4, p. 239
    • A wry laugh bubbled up Carmen's throat as she turned to Blanca. "You brought us here to read?" "Try," Blanca said, chinning at the tome. […] Carmen glanced up between them and then chinned at the bathroom.2025 August 12, Hailey Piper, A Game in Yellow, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 28,61

Noun (2)

chin (plural chins)

  1. (informal) A chinchilla.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Chin

Chin

  1. A hamlet in Alberta, Canada.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Chin

Chin

  1. (alternative, obsolete) Alternative form of China.

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Chin

Chin

  1. A surname from Chinese.
    • Cheng [translating 鄭 /郑 (Zhèng)] is expected to arrive in the U.S. capital on the evening of June 9 and remain there through June 12, according to the KMT's representative to the U.S., Victor Chin (秦日新).
    • During her stay in Washington, Cheng will meet members of Congress from both the Republican and Democratic parties and participate in closed-door discussions at three major think tanks, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Chin told CNA.2026 May 31, Elaine Hou, Evelyn Kao, “KMT head to discuss cross-strait stability in Washington”, in Focus Taiwan, sourced from Washington/Taipei, May 31 (CNA), archived from the original on 01 Jun...

Proper noun (4) capitalized: Chin

Chin

  1. (alternative, obsolete) Alternative form of Jin: an ancient Chinese state and various medieval Chinese dynasties.
    • The most amazing poems in human history are the Huêi-wên-tʻü or the revolving chart, by Lady Su Huêi, of the Chin Dynasty (265-419), and the Chʻien-tzŭ-wên, or thousand-character literature, by Chou Hsing-ssŭ, (fifth century a.d.)1929, Witter Bynner, transl., The Jade Mountain, Alfred A. Knopf, published 1967, →OCLC, page xxxvi
    • The second significant feature in the development of Chinese literature is the immense influence of Buddhist literature on the development of every sphere of Chinese literature since the East Chin Period (A.D. 317).1964, Lai Ming, A History of Chinese Literature, New York: John Day Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 3

Proper noun (5) capitalized: Chin

Chin

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of Qin: an ancient Chinese state.
    • The youth of China, deeply concerned with the future of their country, began to question everything and re-evaluate everything. What had been considered valuable became worthless, and what had been regarded as worthless became priceless. The more they examined, the more doubtful they became. This...1943, Kwok Ying Fung, “Out of Yesterday”, in China, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 14
    • Compared to the Korean excesses, the Chinese (on both sides of the Taiwan Strait) more often follow the "middle way" (中庸之道). The Chinese are more concerned about whether they will leave a bad name for posterity (like Chin Shih Huang [秦始皇] of the Chin dynasty and Chin Kuai [秦檜] of the Sung dynasty.)...1999 December 26, Rick Chu, “Soong [translating 宋 (Sòng)] has no historical responsibility”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2025, Editorial & Opinion, page 36

Noun (3) capitalized: Chin

Chin pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) A tribe in Myanmar.
    • Oral tradition and archaeological evidence suggest the Chin were the earliest Tibeto-Burman group to come to the Chindwin Valley, a settlement process starting as early as the 4ᵗʰ century.2021 December, Samson Alexander Lotven, “THE SOUND SYSTEMS OF ZOPHEI DIALECTS AND OTHER MARAIC LANGUAGES”, in Indiana University, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2025, page 7

Proper noun (6) capitalized: Chin

Chin

  1. A state of Myanmar.
  2. Synonym of Zo (“a language of Myanmar”).
    Synonyms:
    Zo

chin meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

chin in Hindi

bottom of a face
ठुड्डी ṭhuḍḍī, चिबुक cibuk, ठोड़ी ṭhoṛī

chin in Tamil

bottom of a face
முகவாய் mukavāy, மோவாய் mōvāy, தாழ்வாய் tāḻvāy, நாடி nāṭi

chin in Marathi

bottom of a face
हनुवटी hanuvṭī

chin in Urdu

bottom of a face
ٹھڈی ṭhuḍḍī, چبک cibuk, ٹھوڑی ṭhoṛī
More languagesFewer languages
chin in Bengali
চিবুক cibuk
chin in Telugu
గడ్డం gaḍḍaṁ, చుబుకం cubukaṁ
chin in Malayalam
താടി tāṭi
chin in Punjabi
ਠੋੜੀ ṭhoṛī
chin in Sanskrit
चिबुकम् cibukam
chin in Sinhala
නිකට nikaṭa
chin in Assamese
থুঁতৰি thũtori
chin in Nepali
चिउँडो ciũḍo
chin in Pashto
زنه zana
chin in Tagalog
baba
chin in Arabic
ذَقْن ḏaqn, دقن daʔn, ذِقِن digin, ḏigin, دِقِن digin
chin in Malay
dagu, mentum
chin in Indonesian
dagu
chin in Persian
چانه čâne, چکن čakan, زنخ zanax, زنخدان zanaxdân
chin in Thai
คาง kaang
chin in Vietnamese
cằm
chin in Myanmar
မေးစေ့ me:ce.
Dzongkha
མ་མཁལ ma mkhal

Examples of chin in a sentence

  • Lockheed Martin's system is mounted behind a transparent, low-observable window blended into the aircraft's chin.2001, Aviation Week & Space Technology:
  • The Englishmen had also been lifting weights and chinning themselves for years.1969, Kurt Vonnegut, chapter 5, in Slaughterhouse-Five, New York: Dial, published 2005, page 119:
  • You can grunt and curse to your heart’s content but you cannot swing your body when chinning.1986, Martin Cohen, The Marine Corps 3X Fitness Program, Boston: Little, Brown, Part 3, p. 75:
  • Jimmy sat down at the piano, and the scientist tuned, then chinned the violin.1951, Gene Fowler, chapter 16, in Schnozzola: The Story of Jimmy Durante, New York: Viking, page 173:

All 40 example sentences with chin

Synonyms of chin

Antonyms

Forms of chin

Noun
pluralchins
Verb
third-person singular presentchins
present participlechinning
past participlechinned
pastchinned

Plural of chin: chins

Origin of chin

From Middle English chyn, from Old English ċinn (“chin”), from Proto-West Germanic *kinnu, from Proto-Germanic *kinnuz (“chin”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénus (“chin, jaw”). Compare West Frisian/Dutch kin, Low German/German Kinn, Danish kind, Icelandic kinn, Welsh gen, Latin gena, Tocharian A śanweṃ, Ancient Greek γένυς (génus, “jaw”), Armenian ծնոտ (cnot), Persian چانه (čâne), Sanskrit हनु (hánu). Doublet of gena.

Shortening of chinchilla.

See China.

Words formed from chin

Phrases with chin

18 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with chin

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about chin

What does chin mean?
Chin means the bottom of a face, (specifically) the typically jutting jawline below the mouth.
What is chin in Hindi?
Chin in Hindi is ठुड्डी (ṭhuḍḍī), चिबुक (cibuk), ठोड़ी (ṭhoṛī). See Chin meaning in Hindi.
How do you use chin in a sentence?
Lockheed Martin's system is mounted behind a transparent, low-observable window blended into the aircraft's chin.
What part of speech is chin?
Chin can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce chin?
Chin is pronounced /ˈt͡ʃɪn/.
What is the plural of chin?
The plural of chin is chins.

Words near chin in the dictionary

  1. chimæra
  2. chimæras
  3. chimæric
  4. chimærical
  5. chimæræ
  6. chin
  7. chin cactus
  8. chin chin
  9. chin chins
  10. chin chow
  11. chin cleft

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: chin (page history and authors); Chin (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-chin.ogg.

Cite this entry: “chin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.