gin

Abbreviation of geneva, alteration of Dutch genever (“juniper”) from Old French genevre (modern French genièvre), from Vulgar Latin ziniperus, from Latin iūniperus (“juniper”). Hence gin rummy (first attested 1941).

• enPR: jĭn, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪn/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɪn
• Homophone: djinn

gin (countable and uncountable, plural gins)

2. A colourless non-aged alcoholic liquor made by distilling fermented grains such as barley, corn, oats or rye with juniper berries; the base for many cocktails.
3. (uncountable) Gin rummy.
4. (poker) Drawing the best card or combination of cards.

   Johnny Chan held jack-nine, and hit gin when a queen-ten-eight board was dealt out.

• genever
• juniper

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “gin”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “gin”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Partly from Middle English gin, ginne (“cleverness, scheme, talent, device, machine”), from Old French gin, an aphetism of Old French engin (“engine”); and partly from Middle English grin, grine (“snare, trick, stratagem, deceit, temptation, noose, halter, instrument”), from Old English grin, gryn, giren (“snare, gin, noose”).

• enPR: jĭn, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪn
• Homophone: djinn

gin (plural gins)

1. (obsolete) A trick; a device or instrument.
2. (obsolete) A scheme; contrivance; artifice; a figurative trap or snare.
   • c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 64, lines 91–94:

     The church dores were sparred,
     Fast boltyd and barryd,
     Yet wyth a prety gyn
     I fortuned to come in, […]

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     treason and deceiptfull gin

3. A snare or trap for game.
   • 1895, Thomas Hardy, “IV-ii”, in Jude the Obscure, London: Osgood:

     It was the cry of a rabbit caught in a gin.

4. A machine for raising or moving heavy objects, consisting of a tripod formed of poles united at the top, with a windlass, pulleys, ropes, etc.
5. (mining) A hoisting drum, usually vertical; a whim.
6. A pile driver.
7. A windpump.
8. A cotton gin.
9. An instrument of torture worked with screws.

gin (third-person singular simple present gins, present participle ginning, simple past and past participle ginned)

1. (transitive) To remove the seeds from cotton with a cotton gin.
2. (transitive) To trap something in a gin.

• gin up

• → Italian: ginnare

Inherited from Middle English ginnen (“to begin”), contraction of beginnen.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɪn/

gin (third-person singular simple present gins, present participle ginning, simple past gan, past participle gun)

1. (archaic, Early Modern) To begin.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 14:

     Gon. All three of them are deſperate : their great guilt / (Like poyſon giuen to worke a great time after) / Now gins to bite the ſpirits : […]

Borrowed from Dharug dyin (“woman”), but having acquired a derogatory tone.^[1]

• enPR: jĭn, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪn
• Homophone: djinn

gin (plural gins)

1. (Australia, now considered offensive, ethnic slur) An Aboriginal woman.
   • 1869, Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, volume 1, page 273:

     His next shot was discharged amongst the mob, and most unfortunately wounded the gin already mentioned ; who, with a child fastened to her back, slid down the bank, and lay, apparently dying, with her legs in the water.

   • 1879 December 31, “Obituary”, in The Hobart Mercury, page 2:

     On December 28, in the same year [1828], he [John Allen] fought single handed a tribe of native blacks, numbering from thirteen to eighteen, besides "gins" to bring them spears, waddies, etc.

   • 1894, Ivan Dexter, Talmud: A Strange Narrative of Central Australia, published in serial form in Port Adelaide News and Lefevre's Peninsula Advertiser (SA), Chapter XXI, [1]

     From my position I could see the gins pointing back, and as the men turned they looked for a moment and then made a wild rush for the entrance.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XXI, in Capricornia, D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 353:

     How they must have laughed about the strutting of her whose mother was a wanton and aunt a gin!

   • 1988, Tom Cole, Hell West and Crooked, Angus & Robertson, published 1995, page 179:

     Dad said Shoesmith and Thompson had made one error that cost them their lives by letting the gins into the camp, and the blacks speared them all.

   • 2008, Bill Marsh, Jack Goldsmith, Goldie: Adventures in a Vanishing Australia, unnumbered page:

     But there was this gin there, see, what they called a kitchen girl.

• lubra

• blackgin

Cognate to Scots gin (“if”): perhaps from gi(v)en,^[1] or a compound in which the first element is from Old English ġif (English if) and the second is cognate to English an (“if”) (compare iffen),^[1] or perhaps from again.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ɡɪn/

gin

1. (chiefly Scotland, Northern England, Southern US, Appalachia) If.
   • 1605, Richard Verstegan, Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, in Antiquities: Concerning the Most Noble, and Renowned English Nation:

     […] for pronouncing according as one would ſay at London I would eat more cheeſe if I had it, the Northern man ſaith, Ay ſuld eat mare cheeſe gin ay hadet, and the Weſterne man ſaith Chud eat more cheeſe an chad it.

   • 1804, Robert Couper, Poetry, I. 196:

     Gin the plough rests on the bank, / The loom, the nation, dies.

   • 1809, Thomas Donaldson, Poems, section 76:

     An' gin I'm weel and can keep sober / You may look for it in October.

   • 1815, Robert Anderson, Ballads in the Cumberland dialect, page 152:

     He's get han' and siller, / Gin he fancies me.

   • 1860, J. P. K. Shuttleworth, Scarsdale; Or, Life on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Border, Thirty Years Ago, page 158:

     yon felley at Barleigh has wrote farrantly (fairly) to my naunt; gin Robin could bur see ť letter he'd foind no fawt wi' me.

   • 1870, John Christopher Atkinson, Lost; or, What came of a slip from 'honour bright'., page 19:

     Wheeah, Ah thinks thee could, gin ye tried.

   • 1876, Mrs. George Linnaeus Banks, The Manchester Man, page 15:

     "Aw'd never ha slept i' mi bed gin that little un had bin dreawnded, an' me lookin' on loike a stump. Neay; that lass wur Bess, moi wench. We'n no notion wheer th' lad's mother is." Mr. Clough would have pressed the money upon him, but he put it back with a motion of his han.

   • 1880, Wooers, Banks, I. iv:

     […] gin schoo sets off in a tantrum an' flaah's t'mistress wiv her blutherin […]

• -ïng, Ing, IGN, @ing, ing, nig, NGI, -ing, GNI

• džin

Borrowed from English gin.

• IPA^(key): [ˈdʒɪn]
• Hyphenation: gin
• Rhymes: -ɪn

gin m inan

1. gin (alcoholic beverage)

• “gin”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “gin”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

< English gin

gin

1. (rare) alternative spelling of gini (“gin”)

• “gin”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 5 April 2024

Borrowed from English gin.

• IPA^(key): /dʒin/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: djinn, jean

gin m (plural gins)

1. gin

• “gin”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Old Irish gein, verbal noun of gainithir (“is born”), from Proto-Celtic *ganyetor (compare Welsh geni (“be born, bear”)) from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (compare English kin, Latin gignō (“beget, bear”), Ancient Greek γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “become”), Sanskrit जनति (janati, “beget”)).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɟɪnʲ/

gin f (genitive singular gine, nominative plural ginte)

1. begetting, birth
2. fetus
3. offspring, child, person
4. generating source

• aonghin
• athghin f (“counterpart”)

gin (present analytic gineann, future analytic ginfidh, verbal noun giniúint, past participle ginte)

1. give birth to (used only in the autonomous form)
2. germinate, sprout; spring forth; originate
3. beget, procreate
4. generate, produce

• athghin (“regenerate”, verb)

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “gin”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “gainithir”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

gin

1. woman, girl

• John Gladstone Steele, Aboriginal Pathways: in Southeast Queensland and the Richmond River

gin

1. Rōmaji transcription of ぎん

Inherited from French gagner (“to earn, to gain”).

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛ̃/
• Rhymes: -ɛ̃

gin

1. (transitive) to have (to own, to possess)

   Mâ tant gin dé sœr. ― My aunt has two sisters.

2. (transitive) to have under one's control, in one's power
3. (transitive) to have (a condition), to be

   Mo gin swaf. ― I'm thirsty. (literally, “I have thirst.”)

   Mo gin pœr. ― I'm scared. (literally, “I have fear.”)

4. (transitive) to be (an age)

   Li gin 19 zan. ― She's 19 years old. (literally, “She has 19 years.”)

5. (copulative) to get, to become
6. (transitive) to get, to make (cause someone or something to do something)
7. (auxiliary) to have to

   Synonyms: bezwin, dwa, gin pou, ifo

8. (auxiliary) should

   Synonym: sé

9. (auxiliary) to be going to, will

   Synonyms: a, alé, kouri, va

• Mirrors the use of French avoir (“to have”) in some ways. For example, Louisiana Creole gin pou mirrors French avoir pour (“to be obligated to”).

gin

1. nonstandard spelling of gīn

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

• IPA^(key): [ɡʲin]

gin m

1. alternative form of giun (“mouth”)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): [ɡʲinʲ]

gin

1. genitive singular of gen (“smile”)
2. inflection of gen (“sword”):
   1. accusative/dative singular
   2. nominative/vocative/accusative dual

• dżin

Unadapted borrowing from English gin.

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʐin/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -in
• Syllabification: gin
• Homophones: dżin, dżinn

gin m inan

1. gin (alcoholic beverage)

• gin in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• gin in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English gin.

gin m (invariable)

1. alternative spelling of gim

Borrowed from English gin.

gin n (plural ginuri)

1. gin

• IPA^(key): /ɡɪn/

Cognate to dialectal English gin (“if”), which see for more.

gin

1. if (conditional; subjunctive)

   Gin A war ye, A wad gang. ― If I were you, I would go.

   • 1778, Alexander Ross, Fortunate Shepherdess, page 124:

     Then says the squire,
     Gin that be all your fear,
     She sanna want a man, for want of gear.
     A thousand pounds a year, well burthen free,
     I mak her sure of, gin she'll gang with me.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

From Old English [Term?].

gin

1. Against; nearby; towards.

   gin night ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

From Old Irish gainithir (“is born”),^[1] from Proto-Celtic *ganyetor (compare Welsh geni (“be born, bear”)) from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (compare English kin, Latin gignō (“beget, bear”), Ancient Greek γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “become”), Sanskrit जनति (janati, “beget”)).

• IPA^(key): /ɡ̊ʲin/^[2]

gin (past ghin, future ginidh, verbal noun gintinn, past participle ginte)

1. beget, produce, father
2. create, engender
3. procreate, reproduce
4. breed
5. (computing) generate

• ath-ghin

gin f

1. any, anything
2. anyone, anybody

   cha robh gin ann a-raoir ― there was nobody/none there last night

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “gin”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎^[3], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “gin”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎^[4], Stirling, →ISBN

Borrowed from English gin.

• Rhymes: -in

gin m (plural gines)

1. gin

   Synonym: ginebra

• “gin”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

gin

1. romanization of 𒁺 (gin)

Borrowed from English gin.

• IPA^(key): /jɪn/, /dʒɪn/

gin c or n

1. gin (liquor)

• enbär (“juniper berry”)

• gin in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• gin in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• gin in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• -ing, Ing

• gen, gennyf

• IPA^(key): /ɡɪn/

gin

1. (colloquial) (North Wales) first/second-person singular of gan

gin

1. alternative spelling of geen

Compare Scots gin.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɪn/

gin

1. if

   Synonym: yith

   • 1927, “THE FORTH MAN'S GRACE AFTER A SCANTY DINNER”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 137, line 3:

     Gin we have no mo' maate, it maakes no mo' matter,

     [If we have no more meat, it makes no more matter,]

• Kathleen A. Browne (1927) “THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD.”, in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of lreland (Sixth Series)‎^[5], volume 17, number 2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 137

• IPA^(key): /ɡĩ̄/

gin

1. (Igbomina) to chip off a small part of something

   Synonym: yin

   ìyá gin uṣu lé ọmọ lọ́wọ́ ― The mother chipped off a small part of a yam to give to the child

2. (Igbomina) to trim the edges of something with a razor

   babá gin irun ọmọ náà ― The father trimmed the edges of the child's hair