skin and bones

Or skin and bone

noun

1. a condition or state of extreme thinness, usually the result of malnutrition; emaciation.

   Anorexia had reduced her to skin and bones.

Word History and Origins

Origin of skin and bones¹

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50

Idioms and Phrases

Painfully thin, emaciated. This phrase often is expanded to nothing but skin and bones, as in She came home from her trip nothing but skin and bones. This hyperbolic expression—one could hardly be alive without some flesh—dates from the early 1400s.

Example Sentences

Baroness Golding said her dad told her of people at the camps who were "skin and bones with vacant eyes".

From BBC

Shred chicken into bite sized pieces, discarding skin and bones.

From Salon

“When my brother came, he was skin and bones,” Ms. Laveus said.

From New York Times

Lodge sometimes took the body parts - which included heads, brains, skin and bones - back to his home while some remains were sent to buyers through the mail, authorities allege.

From Washington Times

Lodge sometimes took the body parts — which included heads, brains, skin and bones — back to his home while some remains were sent to buyers through the mail, authorities allege.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• bony 
• gaunt 
• scrawny 
• skeletal 
• skinny