skein

UK: /ˈskeɪn/ US: /skeɪn/ ,(skān)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

skein /skeɪn/   n. [countable]

1. • Textiles a loose coil of thread or yarn in a package for retail sale.
2. Birds a flock of geese or ducks in flight.
3. a succession of similar things:
   They reeled off a skein of tennis victories.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

skein  (skān), n. 

1. Textiles a length of yarn or thread wound on a reel or swift preparatory for use in manufacturing.
2. Textiles anything wound in or resembling such a coil:
   a skein of hair.
3. something suggestive of the twistings of a skein:
   an incoherent skein of words.
4. Birds a flock of geese, ducks, or the like, in flight.
5. a succession or series of similar or interrelated things:
   a skein of tennis victories.

• ?
• Middle French escaigne
• late Middle English skeyne, skayne 1400–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

skein / skeɪn/ noun

1. a length of yarn, etc, wound in a long coil
2. something resembling this, such as a lock of hair
3. a flock of geese flying
   Compare gaggle2

Etymology: 15th Century: from Old French escaigne, of unknown origin