loin

American  

[loin] / lɔɪn /

noun

• loins
  plural

1. Usually loins. the part or parts of the human body or of a quadruped animal on either side of the spinal column, between the false ribs and hipbone.

2. a cut of meat from this region of an animal, especially a portion including the vertebrae of such parts.

3. loins,

   1. the parts of the body between the hips and the lower ribs, especially regarded as the seat of physical strength and generative power.

   2. the genital and pubic area; genitalia.

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idioms

1. gird (up) one's loins, to prepare oneself for something requiring readiness, strength, or endurance.

   He girded his loins to face his competitor.

loin British  

/ lɔɪn /

noun

1. Also called: lumbus.  anatomy the part of the lower back and sides between the pelvis and the ribs

2. a cut of meat from this part of an animal

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loin More Idioms  

1. see gird one's loins.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• loins
  plural

Etymology

Origin of loin

1275–1325; Middle English loyne < Middle French lo ( i ) gne, perhaps < Vulgar Latin *lumbea, noun use of feminine of *lumbeus of the loins, equivalent to Latin lumb ( us ) loin + -eus -eous

Explanation

Your loin is the part of your body just above your hip, but below your rib cage. A low-slung belt hangs more or less along your loin. Loin often refers generally to a person's body below their ribs, though rarely by doctors (who like to get more specific). At the butcher, though, it means a particular cut of meat, usually beef or pork, from an animal's low back and side. This is the earliest meaning of the word, which comes from the Old French loigne, "hip or haunch." In the Bible, loin means "part of the body that should be covered with clothing."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

loin loins

One group of ash-smeared men, some naked and some dressed in just loin cloth or marigold garland draped around their necks, marched in holding tridents, swords and small two-headed drums.

From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2025

There, workers methodically dismantle carcasses into primal cuts: chuck, rib, loin, flank, shank.

From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2024

Each course is practically a feast unto itself: vol-au-vent, roasted veal loin, poached turbot, baked Alaska — and that’s just the first half-hour.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2023

Pork chops come from the loin of a pig, which is the strip that runs from the pig’s shoulder to its hip.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 25, 2023

Marie-Laure tortures herself with daydreams of feasts laid out on long tables: platters of sliced pork loin, roasted apples, banana flambe, pineapples with whipped cream.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

Sakai, who sells it wholesale, said that in recent years, his rates for Wagyu strip loins have fallen from $65 to $41 per pound.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

For Jones and his salvation army it's a day to gird the loins and fight back.

From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2026

“There was an initial moment of shock and sort of ‘OK, so I’m going to gird my loins here and finish and accomplish all these things,’” he said.

From New York Times ● Aug. 30, 2022

“As if I were not her very own child,” Harry, the novel’s sole narrator, says, “as if I were not the flesh of her loins, as if I were instead some foreign pathogenic prototype.”

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 19, 2022

The child in her body hung from her lean loins like a knotty fruit and from her face every particle of flesh was gone, so that the jagged bones stood forth rock-like under her skin.

From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck

Related Words

• border
• bottom
• face
• front
• hand
• part
• rear
• sector
• surface
• top
• view