What does sind mean?
Sind is an uncommon chiefly Scottish verb meaning to forbid, prohibit, or prevent someone from doing something. In this use, it corresponds closely to standard English forbid and often takes the older construction sind someone from doing something. The word can also mean to separate or part one thing from another, although that sense is highly archaic. Sind does not function as a common part of modern standard English and is most likely to be encountered in Scottish writing, historical literature, or specialized reference works. Its survival gives it a distinctive old-fashioned character: a speaker using sind may sound deliberately regional or literary rather than merely choosing an unusual synonym. Because the word is rare and can occur in historical texts with somewhat different constructions, its sense and grammatical behavior are best understood from the particular passage in which it appears.
verbChiefly Scottish and archaic: to forbid or prohibit someone from doing something.
- To forbid or prohibit someone from doing something.
- To separate or part something from another thing.
"The old law sinds the children from entering the field after dusk."
"The court sinds him from publishing the letters."
"The commissioners sinds the two territories into separate districts."
Quaint to modern readers, sind preserves the older Scottish sense of placing a restriction on someone.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does sind come from?
Sind is recorded in Scottish and older English usage. Its precise remote historical derivation is uncertain, so it should not confidently be assigned to a particular Germanic root. Modern English dictionaries generally treat it as a chiefly Scottish word that survives from older regional usage.
How sind is actually used
The word is chiefly associated with Scottish and older English usage and is not normally used in contemporary standard English. Its separation sense is more archaic still.
Easily confused with sind
A sin is an act that violates a moral or religious principle, whereas the Scots verb sind means to forbid or prohibit.
Sinned is the past tense and past participle of sin, meaning to commit a sin, not a form of the Scots verb sind.