Sinew

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈsɪny/

Definitions

1. A tendon or ligament connecting muscle to bone or supporting body structure ; physical strength or power, especially in muscles or moral force
2. Tough fibrous tissue linking muscles to bones or providing bodily support ; the quality of strong muscular or courageous force
3. A band of fibrous tissue in the body that joins muscle to bone ; the attribute of firmness or strength in physical or moral contexts

Etymology: Sinew and nerve are, etymologically, the same word. The Proto-Indo-European root *(s)neh₁-, meaning "to twist threads, spin, weave," gave rise to a Germanic word for the tough cords that bind muscle to bone, and the same root produced Greek "neûron" and Latin "nervus," which English later borrowed as "neuron" and "nerve." Ancient peoples did not separate tendons from nerves the way modern anatomy does, so the older words covered both, and that overlap survives in the pairing. Old English "sinu" meant tendon, sinew, or nerve, and its cognates appear across the Germanic languages: German "Sehne," Dutch "zeen" and "zenuw," Swedish "sena," and Icelandic "sin." The sense of twisted, cord-like strands that the root suggests fits the fibrous, rope-like tissue the word names. Middle English forms such as "synwe" and "synewe" also stretched the word to cover ligaments, muscle, and even the veins of a leaf. Because "nerve" and "neuron" came into English through Latin and Greek while "sinew" descended directly from Old English, the two words are doublets: separate paths from one ancestral root, now used for different things.

Synonyms: tendon, muscle, strength

Antonyms: weakness, fragility