Ankle

How to spell ankle

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce ankle

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ankle mean?

1. nounThe joint connecting the foot to the leg.

Ankle in a sentence

• She twisted her ankle stepping off the kerb.

• The doctor wrapped a support bandage around his swollen ankle.

Where does ankle come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Ankle traces back to the Old English ancleow, the name for the joint that connects the foot to the leg. This word belongs to a broad family of Germanic relatives, including Old Norse okkla and Old High German anchal, all built on an ancient root that carried the sense of 'bending' or 'a joint that bends', fitting for a hinge of the body. The modern spelling was reshaped during the medieval period, partly under the influence of Old Norse forms brought by Scandinavian settlers, which is why the clean 'ankle' replaced the older 'ancleow'. The same bending root is thought to be distantly related to words like 'angle', another idea of a bend or corner. The silent-looking 'k' before the 'l' is the small trap, since the cluster 'kl' is easy to slur in speech but must both appear in writing.

How the word is built

• ankle (from Old English ancleow: the joint linking foot and leg); a single root word, no separable affixes