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yin

¹ American

[yin] / yɪn /

noun

(in Chinese philosophy and religion) the negative, dark, and feminine principle, the counterpart of yang.

yin ² American

[yin] / yɪn /

adjective

Scot.

one.

Yin ³ American

[yin] / yɪn /

noun

Shang.

yin British

/ jɪn /

determiner

a Scot word for one

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of yin

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It’s a bit of a yin and yang, but there’s something about the traumatic and the sublime that’s connected in the world.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2026

"We are quite different people - very much yin and yang - but I think decisions are better made with two brains rather than one as it stops hubris," says Begg, who is London-based.

From BBC • Jan. 12, 2026

Being supportive and demanding are a yin and yang—children need both from their parents to succeed.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025

There is a yin and yang to that.

From Salon • Mar. 25, 2025

Why were the two strands complementary to each other—A matched with T, and G matched with C—like a molecular yin and yang?

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023