Bin

How to spell bin

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce bin

What does bin mean?

1. nounA container used for storing things or for holding rubbish and waste.
2. verbTo throw something away or get rid of it, chiefly in British informal use.

Bin in a sentence

• noun

  She tossed the empty wrapper into the kitchen bin.

• verb

  He decided to bin all the paperwork he no longer needed.

• noun

  The warehouse keeps spare bolts sorted in a labelled bin.

• verb

  Managers chose to bin the outdated plan and start again.

Where does bin come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word comes from the Old English binn, which named a manger or a basket used to hold fodder for animals. Many scholars believe the Old English term was itself borrowed from a Celtic source, since related forms appear in old Celtic languages for a basket or crib, though the exact path is debated. For centuries a bin was simply any large box or enclosed container for storing grain, coal, bread, or wine, and that storage sense survives in compounds like 'corn bin' and 'wine bin'. By the twentieth century, especially in British usage, the meaning narrowed toward the familiar household container for rubbish, and the noun spawned a casual verb meaning to throw something into the bin or get rid of it. The spelling has stayed remarkably short and stable, with the modern single-n form replacing the older doubled binn.

How the word is built

• bin (a single root word from Old English binn: a manger or storage container)

Words that sound like bin

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• been: The past participle of 'be', used to form perfect tenses and to indicate having existed, happened, or visited.