Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Skein |
SkeinNoun1. Coils of worsted yarn. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "skein" was first used: 1373. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Industry | An appreciable length of yarn or thread that has been wound into a reel or swift from some machine or device. Source: European Union. (references) |
| Silk is wound up by the rooler in the form of --. These are made up into bundles of about 6 lbs. , called books. Source: European Union. (references) | |
| A definite length of sliver, slubbing, roving or yarn. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Complexity | Noun: complexity; complexness; Adjective: complexus; complication, implication; intricacy, intrication; perplexity; network, labyrinth; wilderness, jungle; involution, raveling, entanglement; coil; (convolution); sleave, tangled skein, knot, Gordian knot, wheels within wheels; kink, gnarl, knarl; webwork. |
Crossing | Net, plexus, web, mesh, twill, skein, sleeve, felt, lace; wicker; mat, matting; plait, trellis, wattle, lattice, grating, grille, gridiron, tracery, fretwork, filigree, reticle; tissue, netting, mokes; rivulation. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Skein |
| English words defined with "skein": Selvagee, Skain ♦ To wind up. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "skein": BONDING-MACHINE SETTER ♦ COLOR CHECKER, ROVING OR YARN, coner ♦ finished-yarn examiner, frickertron checker ♦ HOOKING-MACHINE OPERATOR ♦ JACQUARD-TWINE-POLISHER OPERATOR ♦ LABORATORY TESTER ♦ mercerizer, mercerizer-machine operator ♦ POMPOM MAKER ♦ reel tender, REELING-MACHINE OPERATOR, roving tester, laboratory ♦ shade-and-quality checker, skein inspector, skein reeler, skein winder, SKEINER, skein-mercerizing-machine operator, SKEIN-WINDING OPERATOR, Sleeveless Errand, swift tender ♦ TEST-SKEIN WINDER, TUMBLER TENDER ♦ YARDAGE-CONTROL OPERATOR, FORMING, YARN EXAMINER, SKEINS, yarn inspector, yarn tester, YARN-MERCERIZER OPERATOR I. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "skein": Skainsmate. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Skein" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. Portuguese (hank, skein). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | The Father wove the skein of your life a long time ago. Go and hide in a hole if you wish, but you won't live one instant longer (The 13th Warrior; writing credit: William Wisher Jr.) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Destiny's Skein (1915) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Spanish-American girl makes skein of woolen thread at WPA (Works Progress Administration/Work Projects Administration) project. Costilla, New Mexico. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | James Lees & Sons Co., business at 295 5th Ave., New York, New York. Book and skein counter. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Sylvie and Bruno Concluded | Carroll, Lewis | The whole skein of thought was tangled worse than ever |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | She could hardly think, her ideas were like a tangled skein in her brain |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Skein" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Skein" is used about 61 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 61 | 43,149 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "skein": tangled skein. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
skein | 8 |
skein winder | 4 |
with a tangled skein | 2 |
lane skein | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "skein"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | shkul (deracinate, drag out, extort, extract, grub, hank, jerk, pluck, pull, pull out, rip out, root up, tear, tear down, tweak, wring, yank), torkë (hank). (various references) | |
Arabic | خصلة خيوط, شة خيوط. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | ято (bevy, Covey, flight, flock, gaggle, pack, wing), чиле (hank, hasp, twist), объркано положение (tangle), бъркотия (bungle, clutter, confusion, disarrangement, disturbance, dust, farrago, fuss, hash, havoc, huddle, hugger mugger, hurry-scurry, imbroglio, involution, involvement, jumble, jungle, maze, melee, mess, mess up, mishmash, mix, mix up, muddle, muss, patchwork, pell mell, razzle, razzle-dazzle, rout, salmagundi, snafu, tangle, tumble, uproar, upset, welter), пасмо (hank). (various references) | |
Chinese | 綹 (lock, tuft), 丝球. (various references) | |
Czech | přadeno (hank). (various references) | |
Danish | skein (hank), fed (fat, fatty, greasy), et fed garn (lea, sut), dukke (anthropomorphic test device, bobbin, doll, dolly, dummy). (various references) | |
Dutch | strengetje (staple), streng (rigorous, rigourous, severe, strict, strictly, stringent, tight). (various references) | |
Farsi | هرچیزی شبیه کلاف پیچیدن , کلاف نخ یاپشم , کلاف (Hank, Hasp), دسته (A, Administration, Army, Batch, Covey, Detachment, Hand, Handle, Helm, Hilt, Horde, Host, Ilk, Parcel, Party, School, Sect, Section, Set, Shaft, Sheaf, Shog, Squad, Stack, Stem, Stud, Team, Usurer). (various references) | |
Finnish | vyyhti (coil, hank). (various references) | |
French | écheveau. (various references) | |
German | Strang (cord, hank, ply, rope, strand, string, trace, tug), Strähne (hank, strand, streak). (various references) | |
Greek | κούκλα (doll, dummy, marionette, moppet, puppet), κουβάρι (ball), νηματόδεμα (lea, sut), μπούκλα νήματος (lea, sut), μάτσο νήματοσ, ματσάκι νήμα, τσιλές (hank, hank yarn). (various references) | |
Hebrew | פקעת חוטים (tuft), "ולל" (hank). (various references) | |
Hungarian | gombolyag (ball, clew, clue, hank), fonalköteg. (various references) | |
Italian | matassa (hank, tangle). (various references) | |
Manx | jiornage. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | einskay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | meada (hank). (various references) | |
Romanian | scul (hank), jurubiţã (hank, ply). (various references) | |
Russian | неразбериха (bewilderment, box-up, confusion, hurrah's nest, mix, mix up, muddle, pell mell, pell-mell, snafu, topsy-turvydom, welter), моток пряжи, моток (hank). (various references) | |
Spanish | madeja (hank, mop, weed). (various references) | |
Swedish | nystan (ball, clew), härva (hank, tangle). (various references) | |
Turkish | yumak (ball, clew, clue, coil, pellet), kuşların birlikte uçuş düzeni, karmakarışıklık (a dickens of a mess, ballup, cock up, confusion worse confounded, intricacy, mess, mishmash, mixed bag, spaghetti, tangled skein, whirl), kangal (coil, hank), arapsaçı (dogs dinner, elflock, snarl, spaghetti, tangle, tangled skein, woolly hair), çile (hank, hasp, ordeal, suffering, trial, tribulation). (various references) | |
Turkmen | яumak (claw, tangle), kelep (hank (of thread)). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | моток (hank, knot), лоза (cane, osier, willow), плутанина (boggle, confusion, derangement, embroilment, hubbub, hurly burly, intricacy, involute, jumble, maze, mingle-mangle, mishmash, mix up, muddle, muss, patchwork, pell mell, pellmell, puddle, snarl, snarl up, tangle, wooliness, woolliness). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | cuộn chỉ. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Middle French | 1400-1600 | escaigne. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "skein": skeined, skeining, skeins. (additional references) | |
| |
"Skein" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: lkein, sakei, scean, sceen, scei, scien, Sciex, sckein, sein, seken, seki, sekne, sekuin, seyn, shein, skcein, skeaf, skeen, skei, skeing, skeit, skena, skern, skeu, skey, skeys, skie, skien, skiew, skiln, skine, skinn, Skotino, Suetin, Sweyn, sxei. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: kines. | |
| Words within the letters "e-i-k-n-s" | |
-1 letter: inks, kens, kine, kins, sike, sine, sink, skin. | |
-2 letters: ens, ink, ins, ken, kin, sei, sen, sin, ski. | |
-3 letters: en, es, in, is, ne, si. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-i-k-n-s" | |
+1 letter: eikons, enokis, inkers, inkles, kinase, knifes, knives, koines, likens, minkes, pekins, reinks, sicken, silken, sinker, skeins. | |
+2 letters: alkines, dickens, dinkeys, dinkies, doeskin, eikones, enskied, enskies, hankies, honkies, hunkies, inkiest, inkless, intakes, invokes, jerkins, jinkers, junkies, kelvins, kenosis, kidneys, kinases, kindest, kindles, kinemas, kineses, kinesic, kinesis, kinsmen, kittens, knifers, knishes, kyanise, lentisk, linkers, misknew, nickels, nickers, nickles, nookies, pinkens, pinkers, pinkest, pinkeys, pinkies, pinkoes, punkies, redskin, reknits, relinks, seeking, sickens, sinkage, sinkers, skeeing, skeined, skewing, skinked, skinker, skinned, skinner, skyline, slinked, snakier, snicked, snicker, sonlike, spunkie, stinker, sunlike, swinked, tinkers, tinkles, welkins, winkers, winkles. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
