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:
During a tree climb, a chimpanzee ankle can flex upward by about 45 degrees.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
After breaking his ankle in a pickup basketball game in 2010, he got the insurance bill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Baleba, who joined Brighton from Lille in 2023, is currently sidelined with an ankle injury he picked up during the Seagulls' pre-season training camp in Austria.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
For Kate Jones, who had to give up long-distance running after an ankle injury, setting the New York record in 2023 restored her sense of autonomy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
“Yeah, just a little…” My voice trails off, and I rub my ankle some more.
From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée
Most human ankles, in comparison, can flex by roughly 20 degrees.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 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
‘The ideal invention would be a light polyester air-conditioned undergarment, enclosed around the neck, wrists and ankles and battery operated.’
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
His hands and ankles were chained, and he was shipped off to Adelanto alongside a handful of other immigrants, all who were at least a decade older than him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Rowan heaved with all his might, but Marlie was heavy, and her ankles were slippery with mud.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
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.
