skein

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• General-American, Received-Pronunciation: skān
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• General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /skeɪn/
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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -eɪn
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• CMU ARPABET: S K EY1 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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The noun is derived from Middle English skaine, skayne (“quantity of string, thread, etc., wound on a reel; the string, thread, etc., so wound”), from Old French escaigne (modern French écagne, écaigne (Picardy)); further etymology uncertain, probably from Proto-Celtic, from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to split off”). The verb is derived from noun. cognates * Irish scáinne (“skein, clew”)

From Dutch scheen (“strip of metal or wood; (anatomy) shin”), from Middle Dutch schene, from Old Dutch *skina, from Proto-West Germanic *skinu (“bar; track; (anatomy) shin; spine”), from Proto-Germanic *skinō (“piece; plate; rim; (anatomy) shinbone”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect; to split”). Doublet of shin.

61 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Bulgarian: чиле (čile) — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Catalan: madeixa — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Catalan: troca — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Chinese Mandarin: 綹 /绺 (liǔ) — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Czech: přadeno — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Dalmatian: matuos — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Danish: dukke — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Danish: fed — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Dutch: kluwen — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Finnish: vyyhti — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• French: écheveau — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Galician: madeixa — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Galician: mea — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Galician: meada — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Galician: maraña — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• German: Gebinde — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Greek: κουβάρι (kouvári) — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Ancient Greek: κλωστήρ (klōstḗr) — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Icelandic: hespa — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Indonesian: untai — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Irish: scáinne — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Italian: matassa — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Māori: pōkai — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Occitan: madaissa — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Pangasinan: labey — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Persian: کلاف — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Polish: motek — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Portuguese: madeixa — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Portuguese: meada — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Russian: мото́к (motók) — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Russian: мото́к пря́жи (motók prjáži) — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Serbo-Croatian: клу̏пко — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Serbo-Croatian: klȕpko — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Spanish: lina — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Spanish: madeja — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Swedish: härva — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Swedish: nystan — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Tagalog: labay — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Thai: ไจ (jai) — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Ukrainian: клубок (klubok) — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Ukrainian: моток (motok) — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Walloon: exhet — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Walloon: lonxhea — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Welsh: cengl — quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape
• Finnish: vyyhti — thing resembling a skein of thread, yarn, etc.
• Finnish: munasarjan kalvo — membrane of a fish ovary
• French: membrane des oeufs — membrane of a fish ovary
• Finnish: lentävä parvi — group of wildfowl in flight
• French: vol — group of wildfowl in flight
• German: Schar — group of wildfowl in flight
• Italian: stormo — group of wildfowl in flight
• Swedish: fylking — group of wildfowl in flight
• Swedish: plogformation — group of wildfowl in flight
• Swedish: v-formation — group of wildfowl in flight
• Bulgarian: бъркотия (bǎrkotija) — tangle, weave, web
• Finnish: vyyhti — tangle, weave, web
• Indonesian: kalut — tangle, weave, web
• Spanish: enredo — tangle, weave, web
• Finnish: nauha koripajua — thin strip of an osier used in basketmaking
• Finnish: akselin varren vahvistusnauha — metallic strengthening band or thimble on the wooden arm of an axle of a wagon
• Finnish: vyyhtiä — to weave or wind (thread, yarn, etc.) into a skein