chine
rhymes with "wine"
A steep-sided, narrow ravine cutting through coastal cliffs to the sea — found especially along the coasts of southern England (the Isle of Wight, Dorset, Hampshire). Chines are formed by streams eroding through soft rock on their way to the beach. Each chine is a slot in the cliff, a passage from the land above to the shore below, and the microclimate within — sheltered, humid, shaded — supports plants found nowhere else in the surrounding landscape.
Etymology
Old English cinu, a crack, a fissure. The same root as chink. The cliff has a crack in it and the water found it.
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