pin [OE] Pin is one of the words adopted from Latin by the Anglo-Saxons before they invaded Britain. Its source is Latin pinna ‘feather’, which could also mean ‘point, tip, edge’, and from that developed the sense ‘peg’, the earliest sense of the word in English and still found in mechanics. The sense of pin ‘thin metal fastener’ had developed by 1275. Use of the word to mean ‘skittle’ (as in ninepins) dates from the late 16th century. A pinafore [L18th] was originally an apron with a bib pinned afore or on the front of a dress. The pin in pin money was the decorative kind that women used to fasten their hair or clothing. The phrase, dating from the middle of the 17th century, first referred to an allowance made to a woman by her husband for personal expenses such as clothing. See also panache, pen, acronyms.