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loin

UK/ˈloɪn/US/ˈloɪn/
nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,594 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: loins

The loin is the part of the body between the ribs and the hips. Loin of pork, gird your loins, pain in the loin.

In butchery it is the prime cut, tender because the muscle does little work — sirloin is the loin above. Gird your loins means prepare for effort, from tucking up a robe before action. Loins as a euphemism for the reproductive organs is biblical. Note that the Latin lumbus also gives lumbar.

Definitions of loin

  1. 1nounloinThe part of the body between the ribs and the hips.C1

    “The butcher cut thick pork chops from the loin.”

loin is a body part, or a cut of meat.

Where it comes from

Old French loigne comes from Latin lumbus, the loin. Lumbar and sirloin come from the same part.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *lendʰ- (loin)

  2. Proto-Indo-European

    *lendʰ- — kidney, waist

  3. Proto-Germanic

    *lunduz

  4. Latin

    lumbus

  5. Vulgar Latin

    *lumbea

  6. Old French

    loigne

  7. Middle English

    loyne

  8. English, today

    loin

From Middle English loyne, from Old French loigne, from Vulgar Latin lumbea, from Latin lumbus, of unknown origin, possibly from osc --xum - londwo- or Proto-Germanic lunduz, both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European lendʰ- (“kidney, waist”). Cognate with Modern English lend (“loin”), Dutch lende, German Lende, Swedish länd (“haunch, loin”), Danish lænd, Proto-Slavic lędvьje (Russian ля́двея). a doublet of lend#Etymology_2*.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

loin in the wild

  • The loins, or lumbus (pl.: lumbi), are the sides between the lower ribs and pelvis, and the lower part of the back.

    Loin

  • The short loin, in American butchery, is a primal cut of beef that comes from the back of the animal.

    Short loin

  • The short loin is considered a tender cut.

    Short loin

  • Pork loin is a primal cut of meat from a pig, created from the tissue along the dorsal side of the rib cage.

    Pork loin

  • L'Amour de loin (Love from Afar) is an opera in five acts with music by Kaija Saariaho and a French-language libretto by Amin Maalouf.

    L'Amour de loin

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.