Heels

How to spell heels

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce heels

What does heels mean?

1. nounThe rounded rear parts of the feet, or shoes with raised backs, especially tall ones.
2. verbThird-person form of heel: to follow closely at someone's side, or for a boat to lean over.

Heels in a sentence

• noun

  After the long walk her heels were blistered and sore.

• verb

  The trained spaniel heels obediently beside its owner on every walk.

• noun

  She kicked off her high heels the moment she got home from the office.

• verb

  The yacht heels sharply whenever a strong gust fills the sail.

Where does heels come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English hela, meaning the back part of the foot, which itself goes back to a Germanic root tied to the word for the shin or lower leg bone. It is a close cousin of similar words across the Germanic family, such as Dutch hiel and Old Norse haell, all naming the rounded rear of the foot. Over time the sense widened to cover the raised back portion of a shoe and, by extension, the tall fashionable shoes known as high heels. The verb use, as when a dog heels at its owner's side or a boat heels over in the wind, grew from the same physical image of the foot or base tipping and leaning. The spelling stays close to its ancient form, and the chief trap is purely aural: heels sounds exactly like heals, the word about healing, so the double-e plus l-s of the foot-and-shoe word must be kept distinct.

How the word is built

• heel (from Old English hela: back of the foot)
• -s (plural/third-person ending)