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• chin
  chin

  noun

  the lower extremity of the face, below the mouth.
• ch'in
  ch'in

  noun

  a Chinese zither consisting of an oblong, slightly curved wooden box over which are stretched strings that are stopped with one hand and plucked with the other.
• Chin
  Chin

  noun

  Also Tsin any of three dynasties that ruled in China, a.d. 265–316 (the Western Chin), a.d. 317–420 (the Eastern Chin), and a.d. 936–46 (the Later Chin).
• Ch'in
  Ch'in

  noun

  a dynasty in ancient China, 221–206 b.c., marked by the emergence of a unified empire and the construction of much of the Great Wall of China.
• Chin.
  Chin.

  abbreviation

  China.

chin

¹ American  

[chin] / tʃɪn /

noun

• chins
  plural

1. the lower extremity of the face, below the mouth.

2. the prominence of the lower jaw.

3. Informal. chin-up.

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verb (used with object)

• chins,
  present (3rd person singular)
• chinned,
  past participle,  past
• chinning
  present participle

1. Gymnastics.

   1. to bring one's chin up to (a horizontal bar, from which one is hanging by the hands), by bending the elbows.

   2. to raise (oneself ) to this position.

2. to raise or hold to the chin, as a violin.

3. Archaic. to talk to; chatter with.

verb (used without object)

• chins,
  present (3rd person singular)
• chinned,
  past participle,  past
• chinning
  present participle

1. Gymnastics. to chin oneself.

2. Slang. to talk; chatter.

   We sat up all night chinning about our college days.

idioms

1. keep one's chin up, to maintain a cheerful disposition in spite of difficulties, disappointments, etc. Also chin up.

2. take it on the chin,

   1. to suffer defeat; fail completely.

   2. to endure suffering or punishment.

ch'in ² American  

[chin, cheen] / tʃɪn, tʃin /

noun

1. a Chinese zither consisting of an oblong, slightly curved wooden box over which are stretched strings that are stopped with one hand and plucked with the other.

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Chin ³ American  

[jin] / dʒɪn /

(Pinyin) Jin

noun

1. Also Tsin any of three dynasties that ruled in China, a.d. 265–316 (the Western Chin), a.d. 317–420 (the Eastern Chin), and a.d. 936–46 (the Later Chin).

2. a dynasty that ruled in China 1115–1234.

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Ch'in ⁴ American  

[chin, cheen] / tʃɪn, tʃin /

(Pinyin) Qin

noun

1. a dynasty in ancient China, 221–206 b.c., marked by the emergence of a unified empire and the construction of much of the Great Wall of China.

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Chin. ⁵ American  

Or Chin.

abbreviation

1. China.

2. Chinese.

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chin ¹ British  

/ tʃɪn /

noun

1. the protruding part of the lower jaw

2. the front part of the face below the lips

3. Sometimes shortened to: chin up!.  to keep cheerful under difficult circumstances

4. informal to face squarely up to a defeat, adversity, etc

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verb

1. gymnastics to raise one's chin to (a horizontal bar, etc) when hanging by the arms

2. informal (tr) to punch or hit (someone) on the chin

Chin. ² British  

abbreviation

1. China

2. Chinese

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chin More Idioms  

1. see keep one's chin up; lead with one's chin; take it on the chin.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• underchin
  noun
• chinless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• chins
  plural

Participles

• chinning
  present
• chinned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• chin
  simple
• chins
  simple
• have chinned
  perfect
• has chinned
  perfect
• am chinning
  progressive
• are chinning
  progressive
• is chinning
  progressive
• have been chinning
  perfect progressive
• has been chinning
  perfect progressive

Past

• chinned
  simple
• had chinned
  perfect
• was chinning
  progressive
• were chinning
  progressive
• had been chinning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will chin
  simple
• will have chinned
  perfect
• will be chinning
  progressive
• will have been chinning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of chin¹

before 1000; Middle English; Old English cin ( n ); cognate with Dutch kin, German Kinn chin, Old Norse kinn, Gothic kinnus cheek, Latin gena, Greek génus chin, gnáthos jaw ( see genial ², -gnathous), Sanskrit hanus jaw

Origin of ch'in²

From Chinese (Wade-Giles) ch'in2, (Pinyin) qín

Explanation

Your chin is the somewhat pointy part of your jaw at the bottom of your face, below your mouth. When a man has a bushy beard, it usually covers his cheeks and his chin. Humans are unique in having a chin — it's thought to have evolved in part from our habit of using speech. When chin is a verb, it means to do a pull up on an exercise bar, lifting your full weight until your chin touches the bar. In the late 16th century, to chin meant to affectionately rub chins with someone else, and in 1880s American slang, it also meant "to gossip."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chin ch'in Chin Ch'in Chin. chins chinned chinning

He yawned in his booking photograph, which showed the tattoos that cover his face and head: A “B” on his chin.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

Artwork by his son Naviyd is featured on the walls, while an enlarged drawing of a tattoo that Usher has on his chin has been turned into a decorative ceiling mural.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

She conjures a bewitching onscreen presence that many of her contemporaries could only dream of, pulling the viewer’s gaze with a single glare from her steely eyes or the quiver of her chin.

From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026

"I don't know what possessed me to put it on my chin but I just did it and ended up being quite good at it," he told BBC Radio Manchester.

From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026

I pulled my shoulders back and lifted my chin.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Besides adopting the reading of sin for ch'in from the Ch'ang, and modifying their arrangements of the text, Chu Hsi made other innovations.

From The Chinese Classics: with a translation, critical and exegetical notes, prolegomena and copious indexes (Shih ching. English) — Volume 1 by James Legge

They were ch'in ping, or body-guard troops, in sky-blue tunics, and this retirement was the most significant of all.

From Indiscreet Letters From Peking Being the Notes of an Eye-Witness, Which Set Forth in Some Detail, from Day to Day, the Real Story of the Siege and Sack of a Distressed Capital in 1900—The Year of Great Tribulation by B. L. (Bertram Lenox) Putnam Weale

These tunings were both borrowed by the Japanese from the Chinese by whom they were used as special tunings of the ch'in, or kin, one of the most ancient of musical instruments.

From The Tinguian Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe by Fay-Cooper Cole

"The lines composed by cousin Pao ch'in are indeed devised in a too pigheaded and fast-and-loose sort of way," she observed.

From Hung Lou Meng, Book II Or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel in Two Books by H. Bencraft Joly

“Everest: The Other Side,” from filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, follows mountaineers Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison as they prepare to climb Everest’s north face and attempt an unprecedented ski descent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

After seeing it, she says, she ran into Chin and blurted out, “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

At or near the summit, Mr. Chin took out what looked like an electric screwdriver, and he and the others bolted skis onto their boots.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

“Not enough memory fabs were constructed to handle the amount of memory demand” brought on by generative and agentic AI, added Stifel analyst Brian Chin.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 28, 2026

Needless to say, after this first real encounter, I totally get what Jupe was saying about how Rae Chin makes her want to “not be so guarded.”

From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone

Let’s say you wanted to remember the names of Chinese dynasties: Zhou, Ch’in, Han, Tang, Ming.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2023

There are strong parallels between Mao and China's first emperor, Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, who took power in the 3rd century B.C.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ch'in Shih Huang Ti was the first leader to unify all China.

From Time Magazine Archive

Shensi is reverenced as the birthplace of the Chinese nation, and when the country was first unified by the Ch'in dynasty in 221 B.C., its capital was near present-day Sian.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ch’in Shih Huang-ti, the First Emperor, was the first to offer sacrifices to this star, the Old Man of the South Pole, at Shê Po, in 246 B.C.

From Myths and Legends of China by E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers) Werner

“It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Chin. I’m Courtney.”

From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone

Thus the Chin. yu, originally go, is equated with Akkad gu, to speak; ye with ge, night, and so on.

From Man, Past and Present by Alfred Court Haddon

While Lord Wynstowe fusses around measuring chins and noses, Charlie and Alice are concerned with the grosser features of the human body.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

That might be giving too much credit to one player’s influence after nearly 50 years of clean chins, but come opening day, the smart money will be on Williams wearing a beard.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2025

Chinstrap penguins get their name from the thin black line under their chins, which looks like a strap holding on a black hat or helmet.

From NewsForKids.net ● Dec. 12, 2023

But she disliked the experience, which, she said, left the company “in hysterics — people twitching, slobber running down their chins, screaming from nerves and exhaustion.”

From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2023

Years later their own eyes would glaze as they cupped their chins in remembrance of the inchworm smiles, the squatting haunches, the track-rail legs straddling broken chairs.

From "Sula" by Toni Morrison

"Taking interim fights, you can get chinned by anyone."

From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2026

On a recent afternoon he chinned himself from a high bar and did an assortment of lifts with 30-pound weights on cables.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 2, 2016

Double chinned faces are usually categorized under the round and wide face.

From Forbes ● Sep. 28, 2014

His last ride, he got chinned on the line.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 2, 2010

Harry took a running jump, caught a limb, and chinned himself.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Outside is a chinning bar dating to Tolstoy’s day.

From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2016

In Higashi Village, Japan, the women's youth corps put 50 youths through a husband qualification test which included a marathon run, a rice-bag-carrying race, chinning the bar and plowing, flunked all 50.

From Time Magazine Archive

Four times a week he dons a pair of steel and foam-rubber Gravity Boots that each weigh three pounds and dangles from his heels from a chinning bar for five minutes.

From Time Magazine Archive

Franklin Roosevelt almost certainly would have been on the world telephones, chinning with "Uncle Joe" and talking guardedly with that mild, new quality at No. 10 Downing Street, Clement Attlee.

From Time Magazine Archive

I remember chinning myself on the top of a fence to see one such comedy show filled with gallows humor.

From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson