- loin
- c.1300, "side of the body of an animal used for food," from O.Fr. loigne, from V.L. *lumbea, from *lumbea caro "meat of the loin," from fem. of *lumbeus, adj. used as a noun, from L. lumbus "loin." Replaced O.E. lendenu "loins," from P.Gmc. *landwin-. The Latin word was probably also borrowed from a Germanic source. In reference to the living human body, it is attested from late 14c. In Biblical translations, often used for "that part of the body that should be covered and about which the clothes are bound" (1520s).