Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗A quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape; a skein of cotton is formed by eighty turns of thread around a reel with a fifty-four inch diameter. · The membrane of a fish ovary. · A group of wildfowl (for example, geese or swans) in flight. · Synonym of spireme (“the tangled mass of strands of chromatin seen in the early stages of mitosis, originally believed to be a single continuous strand (or two in a diploid cell, etc.)”).
To weave or wind (thread, yarn, etc.) into a skein (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1). · To intertwine or weave (something) with another thing.
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”)
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 3 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "root",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*skend-"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "lg",
"args": {
"1": "noun"
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"expansion": "noun"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "skaine"
},
"expansion": "Middle English skaine"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "fro",
"3": "escaigne"
},
"expansion": "Old French escaigne"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "fr",
"2": "écagne"
},
"expansion": "French écagne"
},
{
"name": "qualifier",
"args": {
"1": "Picardy"
},
"expansion": "(Picardy)"
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{
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"expansion": "¹"
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"expansion": "Proto-Celtic"
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{
"name": "der",
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"t": "to split off"
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"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to split off”)"
},
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"expansion": "verb"
},
{
"name": "col-top",
"args": {
"1": "2",
"2": "cognates"
},
"expansion": "cognates"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "ga",
"2": "scáinne",
"t": "skein, clew"
},
"expansion": "Irish scáinne (“skein, clew”)"
}
],
"links": [
[
"skaine",
"skaine#Middle_English"
],
[
"skayne",
"skayne#Middle_English"
],
[
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"escaigne#Old_French"
],
[
"écagne",
"écagne#French"
],
[
"écaigne",
"écaigne#French"
],
[
"*skend-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/skend-"
],
[
"scáinne",
"scáinne#Irish"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"A quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and loosely knotted into an oblong shape; a skein of cotton is formed by eighty turns of thread around a reel with a fifty-four inch diameter.",
"The membrane of a fish ovary.",
"A group of wildfowl (for example, geese or swans) in flight.",
"Synonym of spireme (“the tangled mass of strands of chromatin seen in the early stages of mitosis, originally believed to be a single continuous strand (or two in a diploid cell, etc.)”)."
],
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},
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To weave or wind (thread, yarn, etc.) into a skein (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1).",
"To intertwine or weave (something) with another thing."
],
"tags": [
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