thinsplain

English

Etymology

From thin +‎ -splain, after the pattern of mansplain.

Verb

thinsplain (third-person singular simple present thinsplains, present participle thinsplaining, simple past and past participle thinsplained)

(informal, derogatory) To explain to a fat person (as a thin person) in a condescending manner, presuming the listener's inferior understanding.
- 2014, Daniel S. Goldbert, "Fatness, Medicalization, and Stigma: On the Need to Do Better", Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, Volume 4, Number 2, Summer 2014, page 117:
  The two strategies I rely on for avoiding thinsplaining are related: first, to listen carefully (“listen thrice before speaking once”) to the voices of the writers of this remarkable collection of stories, […]
- 2019, Braelin Pantel, "Students of Size: An Exploratory Case Study on a Hidden Climate", University of Northern Colorado, page 78:
  As someone who is currently unlikely to be perceived as a person of size, I risked thinsplaining throughout this research process.
- 2021, Judith Bridges, “Explaining '-splain' in digital discourse”, in Language Under Discussion, volume 6, number 1, page 21:
  When "thin girl" thinsplains about her woes of gaining weight and calls herself "ugly and fat" in response to her body changing […] , it suggests that, for one, she equates fat with ugly, and also that she is unaware of others' experiences of fat stigma.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:thinsplain.