Shank

How to spell shank

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce shank

What does shank mean?

1. nounThe straight, narrow part of a tool, bolt, or key that lies between the working end and the head or handle.
2. nounThe part of the leg between the knee and the ankle, or the corresponding lower section of an animal's leg.
3. nounA cut of meat taken from the lower leg of an animal, often braised slowly.

Shank in a sentence

• The shank of the screw was too thick to fit the pilot hole.

• The hiker rubbed a sore muscle along the shank of his leg.

• She slow-cooked a lamb shank until the meat fell off the bone.

• He gripped the chisel by the shank rather than the blade.

• The long boot rose to cover the entire shank.

• The butcher trimmed the beef shank for a winter stew.

Where does shank come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Shank comes from the Old English sceanca, meaning the leg, and especially the shin or the part of the leg below the knee. It belongs to a wide family of Germanic words for the leg, including the Dutch schenkel and the German Schenkel, all probably tied to an older root meaning to bend or to be crooked, the way a leg bends at the joint. From the literal body part the meaning spread outward to almost any long, narrow, connecting part: the straight stem of a tool between its handle and its working end, the shaft of a key, the slim part of a bolt below the head, and a cut of meat taken from the animal's leg. The phrase shank's pony, meaning to travel on foot, simply uses your own legs as the horse. Because the word is short and the spelling follows the sound almost exactly, the only real trap is the silent nudge of the -nk cluster, written n then k.

How the word is built

• shank (a single Old English root meaning leg or shin; no prefix or suffix)