ankle
Americannoun
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ankles
plural
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(in humans) the joint between the foot and the leg, in which movement occurs in two planes.
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the corresponding joint in a quadruped or bird; hock.
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the slender part of the leg above the foot.
noun
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the joint connecting the leg and the foot See talus 1
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the part of the leg just above the foot
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ankle
First recorded before 1000; partly from Middle English ankel, enkel, ankyl, cognate with Middle Low German, Dutch enkel, Old Frisian ankel, Old High German anchal, enchil, Old Norse ǫkkul (from unrecorded ankula); partly from Middle English anclowe, oncleou, Old English anclēow, onclēow, cognate with Middle Low German anclef, Dutch anklāw, Old High German anchlāo; akin to Latin angulus “corner, angle,” Greek ankúlos “bent, crooked,” and ankṓn “bend of the arm, elbow”
Explanation
Your ankle connects your lower leg to your foot. The ankle is a joint that bends and swivels. The ankle is actually a fairly complicated part of your body, officially including three separate joints that make it possible to bend your legs, jump, run, and walk. The major bone in your ankle is called a talus, and it's the one at the very top of your foot. In Old English, it was ancleow, from a root word meaning "to bend," a root it shares with the word angle.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Lead author and sport and exercise technology expert Dr. Cody Lindsay says the ankle is essential for maintaining balance while also helping propel the body forward.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
Last season he suffered separate calf and ankle problems that restricted him to 35 appearances in all competitions for Villa, the lowest number in a campaign during his time in England.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Sister Carren Herring asked as the Haitian man walked toward the field office, where he would reemerge from hours later with a GPS tracker clamped around an ankle.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Despite ankle injuries the last two seasons, McBean has shown how well he can run with a football when healthy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
And the only decoration on the peeling walls was a large and ugly painting of an eye, matching the one on Count Olaf’s ankle and all over the house.
From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket
Divers tied stone weights around their ankles and held their breath as they sank to the bottom of the shallows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
On a beach in southern Romania, a few metres from the Danube shore, a boy sloshed his bare feet through water that only reached up to his ankles.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
She then sleeps with her feet and ankles on it.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
Hyaline cartilage is smooth and slippery, allowing joints such as the knees, hips, shoulders, and ankles to move freely.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 12, 2026
Cats on the street came to wind figure eights around his ankles; dogs leaped up at him in the park.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
