fin
/fɪn/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
New Zealand/fən/
fin noun: one of the appendages of a fish, used to propel itself and to manoeuvre/maneuver.
Noun (1)
fin (plural fins)
- One of the appendages of a fish, used to propel itself and to manoeuvre/maneuver.
- The fish's fins minimize water flow.
- Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
- A similar appendage of a cetacean or other marine animal.
- a dolphin's fin
- Synonyms:
- flipper
- A thin, rigid component of an aircraft, extending from the fuselage and used to stabilise and steer the aircraft.
- The fin stabilises the plane in flight.
- A similar structure protruding from a projectile, used to help keep it on course.
- A similar structure on the bottom of a surfboard, used to help steer it.
- A hairstyle, resembling the fin of a fish, in which the hair is combed and set into a vertical ridge along the top of the head from about the crown to the forehead.
- A device worn by divers and swimmers on their feet.
- The divers wore fins to swim faster.
- Synonyms:
- flipper
- An extending part on a surface of a radiator, engine, heatsink, etc., used to facilitate cooling.
- A sharp raised edge (generally in concrete) capable of damaging a roof membrane or vapor retarder.
- The conning tower of a submarine.
- A person's hand.
- "Done say I to that, Reuben, tip me your fin, my spark, and it shall be a bet."1839, Dearden's Miscellany, volumes 1-2, page 661
Verb
fin (third-person singular simple present fins, present participle finning, simple past and past participle finned)
- To cut the fins from a fish, shark, etc.
- (Of a fish) to swim with the dorsal fin above the surface of the water.
- When you spot him finning just under the surface, you move up quietly and present [...] bait, usually a squid.1983, The Fisherman Who Laughed, page 54
- To swim in the manner of a fish.
- A neutrally buoyant diver does not need to fin to maintain depth.
- To provide (a motor vehicle etc) with fins.
Noun (2)
fin (plural fins)
- a five-pound (£5) note; the sum of five pounds.
- A five-dollar bill; the sum of five dollars.
Noun (3)
fin (plural fins)
Noun (4)
fin (uncountable)
Noun (5) capitalized: FIN
FIN (plural FINs)
- Initialism of facility ID number.
- Initialism of force identification number.
- Initialism of feminine in nature
Proper noun capitalized: Fin
Fin
- commune in the Somme department in France
fin meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Nepali and Tagalog
fin in Hindi
- appendage of a fish
- पंख paṅkh, मीनपक्ष mīnpakṣ
fin in Tamil
- appendage of a fish
- துடுப்பு tuṭuppu, மீன்சிறகு mīṉciṟaku
- appendage of a cetacean or other marine animal
- துடுப்பு tuṭuppu
fin in Nepali
- फिन्
fin in Tagalog
- appendage of a fish
- palaypay, palikpik
More languagesFewer languages
- fin in Arabic
- زِعْنِفَة ziʕnifa
- fin in Malay
- sirip
- fin in Indonesian
- sirip
- fin in Persian
- باله bâle, پره parre
- fin in Thai
- ครีบ krîip
- fin in Vietnamese
- vây, vi
- fin in Myanmar
- အတောင် a.taung, ဆူးတောင် hcu:taung, ရေယက် reyak
Examples of fin in a sentence
- Fish move using a flutter of their body to propel themselves through the water. Some also derive propulsion or maneuverability from their fins' flutter.
- Volkswagen avoided the fins and other frills with which U.S. manufacturers larded their vehicles.
- Appearing to flutter across the facade is a run of aluminum fins powder-coated a pearly white.
Synonyms of fin
Forms of fin
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | fins |
| plural | FINs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | fins |
| present participle | finning |
| past participle | finned |
| past | finned |
Origin of fin
From Middle English fin, from Old English finn, from Proto-Germanic *finnō, *finǭ (“dorsal fin”) (compare Dutch vin, German Finne, Swedish finne, fena), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pīn- (“backbone, dorsal fin”) (compare Old Irish ind (“end, point”), Latin pinna (“feather, wing, fin”), Tocharian A spin (“hook”).
From Yiddish פֿינף (finf, “five”). Doublet of cinque, finnuf, five, pimp (“five”), ponzu, punch (“beverage”), and sengi (“currency”).
From French fin (“end”). Doublet of fine and finis.
Words formed from fin
- abdominal fin
- adipose fin
- anal fin
- backfin
- bigfin
- blackfin
- bloodfin
- bluefin
- bowfin
- caudal fin
- cephalic fin
- definned
- dorsal fin
- fan-in-fin
- finback
- fin chop
- finclip
- finfish
- fin fold
- finfolk
- finfoot
- fin-foot
- fin-footed
- fin gripper
- fin keel
- fin key
- finless
- finlet
- finlike
- fin-like
- finnage
- finning
- finny
- finray
- fin rot
- finspine
- finswimmer
- finswimming
- fin-toed
- fin whale
- forefin
- hindfin
- Hoxton fin
- kitefin
- lobefin
- longfin
- monofin
- nanofin
- paired fin
- pectoral fin
- pelvic fin
- plainfin
- redfin
- red-fin shark
- sailfin
- scalyfin
- shark-fin
- shark fin
- sharkfin
- shark fin soup
Phrases with fin
Words that rhyme with fin
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- Flynn
- bin
- Quinn
- sin
- tin
- Bryn
- corinne
- inn
- din
- Finn
- grin
- kin
- lin
- linn
- unpin
- Benin
- min
- shin
- violin
- wherein
- within
- akin
- been
- begin
- brin
- chin-chin
- hin
- lyn
- mandolin
- whin
- zoom in
- agin
- agrin
- Arabian jasmine
- blin
- djinn
- Douyin
- edge in
- gimme some skin
- glyn
- herein
- jinn
- Karin
- kissing kin
- lecithin
- Nguyen
- nin
Questions about fin
- What does fin mean?
- Fin means one of the appendages of a fish, used to propel itself and to manoeuvre/maneuver.
- What is fin in Hindi?
- Fin in Hindi is पंख (paṅkh), मीनपक्ष (mīnpakṣ). See Fin meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is fin?
- Fin can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce fin?
- Fin is pronounced /fɪn/.
- What is the plural of fin?
- The plural of fin is fins.
Words near fin in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fin (page history and authors); FIN (page history and authors); Fin (page history and authors); fin (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-fin.ogg.
Cite this entry: “fin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.