skint

1. 1
   no moneyadjectiveslangCommonwealthIrelandUK

   Having little or no money to spend.

   I'm completely skint until payday, so I'll give the pub a miss tonight.

   As skint students, they lived on beans on toast for most of the term.

   UsageMost often after be: I'm skint, completely skint. It means the same as broke; formal writing prefers short of money.

   Similarbroke, penniless, hard-up, strapped

   Oppositeflush, loaded, rich

   Note

   Being stripped of your money is the picture behind the slang: the sense, recorded since the early 20th century, comes from a variant of skinned. Despite the look, it has no tie to skinflint or skin a flint. Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • The slang developed from the idea of being deprived of one's money. worldwidewords.org
   • The penniless sense is recorded since the early twentieth century. wordsmith.org
   • Skint derives from a variant of skinned. en.wiktionary.org
   • Skint does not derive from skinflint or skin a flint. en.wiktionary.org
2. 2
   scrapedadjectivedialectalUS

   Having had the skin stripped or scraped off.

   He limped home from the playground with a skint knee and a torn sleeve.

   "I slid down that gravel bank, and now both my elbows are skint and stinging," Jody told her mama.

   UsageIn careful writing the usual form is skinned: a skinned knee.

   Similarskinned

   Note

   The literal form survives alongside the money meaning, with skint standing in for skinned: a skint knee is one scraped raw. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Literal skint is a dialectal variant of skinned. appalachian-english.library.sc.edu
   • A skint knee has had skin scraped off. en.wiktionary.org
3. 3
   verbtransitive

   A regional past form of skin, heard chiefly in the US, that serves as both past tense and past participle, standing in for skinned.

   I skint my shin on the porch steps chasing the dog last night.

   After the hunt, my uncle skint both rabbits out behind the barn while the rest of us got the fire going for supper.

   Note

   The verb form is easy to read when it has an object: skint my knee, skint a squirrel. The trap comes after be, where it meets the "broke" meaning: squirrels that were skint have lost their hides, while a neighbor who is skint has lost his money. The overlap is no accident, because the "penniless" use, recorded from 1925, grew from the same variant of skinned. In writing, skinned avoids the clash altogether. Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The penniless sense is documented from 1925. wordsmith.org
   • The penniless adjective and the verb form share their origin in skinned. en.wiktionary.org

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