Lisin was a Mesopotamian deity initially regarded as a goddess and addressed as ama, "mother," who later came to be regarded as a god and developed an association with fire. The name was also applied to a star associated with Nabu, presumed to correspond to Antares. Lisin's spouse was Ninsikila, whose gender also changed between periods. It was believed that they had eight children. The initial cult center of Lisin is uncertain, with locations such as Abu Salabikh, Adab and Kesh being often proposed. She is attested in texts from various cities, including Umma, Lagash, Nippur and Meturan. Only a single literary text focused on Lisin is known, a lament in which she mourns the death of one of her sons, for which she blames her mother Ninhursag. Both female and male version of Lisin also appears in other similar texts.

Lisin's name was written as ^dli₉-si₄ (𒀭𒉈𒋜) in cuneiform. It is sometimes romanized as Lisi instead. The reading with n as the final consonant is based on genitive forms in which the final sign is na, such as the theophoric name Geme-Lisina. Due to uncertainties about sign values, the spelling ^dNE.GÙN was used in early Assyriological literature, but it was possible to establish the correct reading based on ancient lexical lists providing pronunciation glosses. The meaning of the name is unknown. Lisin's character also remains poorly known.

Lisin is addressed as ama, "mother," in one of the Early Dynastic Zame Hymns. Authors such as Jeremy Black, Anthony Green and Gebhard J. Selz [de], relying on this fact, describe her as a "mother goddess". However, according to Manfred Krebernik [de] and Jan Lisman this epithet does not necessarily indicate maternal characteristics. According to Joan Goodnick Westenholz, it should be understood as a title highlighting the protective nature of goddesses regarded as tutelary deities of specific cities.

Despite ama being her most common epithet, Lisin came to be viewed as a male deity in later periods. In texts postdating the Old Babylonian period, and uncommonly also earlier, the genders of Lisin and her spouse Ninsikila were switched around, and in the god list An = Anum the former is male and the latter female. The fact that in Old Babylonian god lists Lisin precedes Ninsikila might have influenced the reinterpretation of their gender. Furthermore, it is also possible the existence of a Dilmunite goddess homophonous, but not identical, with Ninsikila, whose original name was Meskilak but who came to be referred to as Ninsikila in Mesopotamia, was a factor.

According to Westenholz, the gender of Lisin did not change in laments, in which she continued to be addressed as a female deity even in later periods. However, Paul Delnero states that a fragment of a single lament in which Lisin is male is known. Lisin is also treated as a female deity in Udug Hul, a corpus of incantations which remained in circulation until the end of the use of cuneiform in Mesopotamia.

In various esoteric texts, an association between Lisin and fire and burning developed. An explanatory text, referred to as The Weapon Name Exposition by Alasdair Livingstone, includes an invented Akkadian etymology of Lisin's name. The deity, in this case treated as male, is described as "he who burns with fire" and "he who burns on an offering", relying on the use of the first sign of the name to write the verb qalû, "to burn," and the second one to represent the nouns izi and išātu, "fire". A third explanation of the name provided, "the handsome one, the burning one", relies on explaining the first sign as banû, "to be beautiful", and on treating izi, the value previously established for the second sign, as analogous to qalû.

According to Markham J. Geller, an Udug Hul incantation in which Lisin, in this text referred to as a goddess, appears when ingredients needed for the ritual are cooked might also depend on the association with fire. The fact that an esoteric text which equates deities with various materials and objects assigns "white fumes" to Lisin is also presumed to depend on a similar invented etymology. In incantations, Lisin could be associated with a variety of other materials, including hūlu and kibrītu, both presumed to be minerals, horn of the gazelle, and medicinal plants ninû, azupiru, and sahlû.

In the first millennium BCE in Mesopotamian astronomy Lisin's name came to be used as the designation of the star known today as Antares (α Scorpionis). Based on the fact that the star could also be referred to as "the breast of the scorpion" (^mulGABA GIR₂.TAB), Gabriella Spada argues that Lisin herself was at some point associated with scorpions. The compendium MUL.APIN states that praying to the star Lisin when it was visible in the sky could secure good luck as long as all members of the petitioner's household were woken up to partake. According to Hermann Hunger, despite the origin of its name, the star was associated with Nabu.