Tan someone’s hide

Origin of: Tan someone’s hide

Tan someone’s hide

Tan meaning to convert animal skin into leather by using an infusion of oak-bark dates from early Anglo-Saxon times. The word tan derives from the Latin tannum, the bark of the oak tree, from which the word tannin is derived. Hide meaning the human skin has been used in this sense since before the 12th century. To tan meaning to darken one’s skin by exposure to the sun dates from the mid-16th century. The actual figurative phrase to tan someone’s hide or give someone a tanning, meaning to administer a sound thrashing, dates from the late 1600s. See also Hiding.