Fin

Pronunciation

• enPR: fÄ­n, IPA: /fɪn/
• Homophones: Finn
• Rhymes: -ɪn

From Middle English fin, from Old English finn, from Proto-Germanic *finjō, *finjaz ("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"), Tocharian A spin 'hook', Sanskrit sphyá 'splinter, staff').

Full definition of fin

Noun

1. (ichthyology) One of the appendages of a fish, used to propel itself and to manoeuvre/maneuver.
• 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 4, 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.
2. The fish's fins are designed to minimize water flow.
3. A similar appendage of a cetacean or other marine animal.
   a dolphin's fin
4. 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.
5. A similar structure on the tail of a bomb, used to help keep it on course.
6. 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.
7. A device worn by divers and swimmers on their feet.
   The divers wore fins to swim faster.
8. An extending part on a surface of a radiator, engine, heatsink, etc., used to facilitate cooling.
9. A sharp raised edge (generally in concrete) capable of damaging a roof membrane or vapor retarder.

Synonyms

• (appendange of a fish)
• (appendage of a cetacean or other marine animal) flipper of mammals
• (aircraft component)
• (of a bomb) vane
• (hairstyle) Mohican
• (device worn by divers) flipper

Derived terms

• anal fin
• caudal fin
• dorsal fin
• finning
• paired fins
• pectoral fin
• pelvic fin
• tail fin
• unpaired fins

Verb

1. (cut fins)(transitive) To cut the fins from a fish, shark, etc.
2. (intransitive) To swim in the manner of a fish.
3. (transitive) To provide (a motor vehicle etc) with fins.

From Yiddish פֿינף (finf, "five").

Noun

1. (US, slang) A five-dollar bill.

Synonyms

• (five-dollar bill) fiver, Lincoln

Anagrams

• NFI