fin

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   organ of locomotion and balance in fishes and some other aquatic animals

   Some fish have pectoral and dorsal fins.

2. 2
   noun

   a stabilizer on a ship that resembles the fin of a fish

   I scraped barnacles off the fins of my new boat.

3. 3
   noun

   a shoe for swimming

   I put on a pair of fins before I went snorkelling.

4. 4
   noun

   one of a set of parallel slats in a door or window to admit air and reject rain

   My new door had fins made out of mahogany.

From Middle English fin, from Old English finn, from Proto-Germanic *finnō, *finǭ (“dorsal fin”) (compare Dutch vin, German Finne, Swedish finne, fena), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pīn- (“backbone, dorsal fin”) (compare Old Irish ind (“end, point”), Latin pinna (“feather, wing, fin”), Tocharian A spin (“hook”).

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