Skin means: The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than risky behaviour. If your teen uses it, context will usually make the intent clear. A short, curious question about where they heard it is usually all that is needed to know whether to follow up.
skin
(uncountable) The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.
Seen in the wild
10 citations · last seen May 2026
Seen in the wild
BlueskyMay 2026
Barely made it by the skin of my teeth by West coast time! 😅 Happy May 4th and such to the Star Wars peeps! 💗 #Maythe4th #Starwars #babyyoda #mandalorian #art #artist #fanart #rose #traditionalart
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BlueskyMay 2026
YC owning billions in OpenAI and Paul Graham not disclosing it when commenting on Altman feels... off. That's a lot of skin in the game. #startup #saas
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BlueskyMay 2026
He does t look like white babies but has a light skin?
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BlueskyMay 2026
Astaxanthin at 12mg/day — what human trials show: ✅ 6,000× stronger antioxidant than vitamin C ✅ Reduced UV-induced skin damage 🛒 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F4M8Y6V6?tag=choosetoshop-20 #Astaxanthin #Antioxidants…
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BlueskyMay 2026
Won’t be long before Reform call universities to ban female students. Why waste time studying when they are needed in pale skin baby factories?
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Definitions
UK
#1·Apr 27, 2026UK
(uncountable) The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.
He is so disgusting he makes my skin crawl.
Origin: From , skinn, from , from , from , from , nasal variant of to cut. Partially displaced native Old English hȳd, from which derives hide. Cognate with , dialectal German fruit peel; also , , , ,. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).
For parents
Skin means: The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than risky behaviour. If your teen uses it, context will usually make the intent clear. A short, curious question about where they heard it is usually all that is needed to know whether to follow up.
For ESL learners
skin means: The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.. Register: neutral, standard English. A common learner mistake is using the word in a register it does not fit, or assuming a single global meaning; native speakers immediately notice when slang appears in formal contexts, so always check the surrounding register before producing it yourself.
Cluster: body
Heard in the wild
“YC owning billions in OpenAI and Paul Graham not disclosing it when commenting on Altman feels... off. That's a lot of skin in the game. #startup #saas”
— Bluesky· May 2026“He does t look like white babies but has a light skin?”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Astaxanthin at 12mg/day — what human trials show: ✅ 6,000× stronger antioxidant than vitamin C ✅ Reduced UV-induced skin damage 🛒 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F4M8Y6V6?tag=choosetoshop-20 #Astaxanthin #Antioxidants #Longevity #Supplements #Biohacking #ad #paidlink”
— Bluesky· May 2026“✨ Gear up with a sparkle! You can claim a free weapon skin for the Bailiff 410 by watching Rainbow Six Siege gameplay. More info: ubi.li/hJnqg”
— Bluesky· May 2026“I've been terrible about it for years, despite having a family history of skin cancer as long as my arm. Dad getting real deal skin cancer last year and not just weird moles made me actually commit to it.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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UK
#2·Apr 27, 2026UK
(uncountable) The outer protective layer of the fruit of a plant.
Her skin is pale like chicken skin, after you have peel[ed] all the feathers.
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UK
#3·Apr 27, 2026UK
(countable) The skin and fur of an individual animal used by humans for clothing, upholstery, etc.
In order to get to the rest of the paint in the can, you′ll have to remove the skin floating on top of it.
Heard in the wild
“Barely made it by the skin of my teeth by West coast time! 😅 Happy May 4th and such to the Star Wars peeps! 💗 #Maythe4th #Starwars #babyyoda #mandalorian #art #artist #fanart #rose #traditionalart”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Won’t be long before Reform call universities to ban female students. Why waste time studying when they are needed in pale skin baby factories?”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Kaiping Yin, Sooik Im, Chaorui Qiu, Yun Bai, Xiangyu Lu, Chenhang Li, Junjie Yao, Xiaoyue Ni: A skin-like conformal sensor for real-time shape mapping https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.01170 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.01170 https://arxiv.org/html/2605.01170”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Beautiful!! I'm unable to get a tat because my skin is too thin and I bleed very easily. If I could however, the only tat I'd want is a beautiful Steelie. Perfection. 😊💙⚡❤️🌹✌️”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Yes. I 'felt unsafe' because I lived in a violent area, which was constantly re-firing my trauma responses. I was able to address jumping out of my skin every time someone shouted when I no longer lived somewhere where shouting was usually followed by sirens.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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UK
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Other words near "skin" (S)
skilloskilvingsskimmelSkimmeryskim milkskimpyskinheads on a raftskinnerskinningskinnymalinkskinnymalinksskint
Browse all slang words starting with S.