SINEW
What does "SINEW" mean?
A tough fibrous cord that connects muscle to bone; a tendon.
Meanings
- A piece of tough fibrous tissue uniting muscle to bone; a tendon. The butcher trimmed the sinew from the cut of beef.
- Strength, power, or the source of vigor, often used in the plural. Hard work is the sinew of any lasting enterprise. figurative
Did you know?
- For thousands of years people used dried sinew as thread and bowstring - its fibers pull so strongly in tension that ancient bows and stitched garments relied on it.
Word origin
From Old English 'sinu', 'seonu' (tendon), from Proto-Germanic 'sinwō'; related to Dutch 'zenuw' and German 'Sehne'.
Remember it
SINEW = SIN + EW: imagine the 'ew' of pulling a tough, stringy sinew from meat.
A little poem
Cord that ties the will
to the bone it has to move-
strength is mostly thread.
haiku
Wordplay
- The phrase 'the sinews of war' sounds noble until you remember it just means the stringy bits holding everything together.
What it teaches
Strength lives in the connections, not the parts: a body is held by what binds it.
Quick facts
What does SINEW mean?
A tough fibrous cord that connects muscle to bone; a tendon.
Is SINEW a valid word?
Yes — SINEW is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is SINEW?
SINEW has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does SINEW come from?
From Old English 'sinu', 'seonu' (tendon), from Proto-Germanic 'sinwō'; related to Dutch 'zenuw' and German 'Sehne'.
What can SINEW teach us?
Strength lives in the connections, not the parts: a body is held by what binds it.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.