Etymologically
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leg

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English leg, legge,[2] borrowed from Old Norse leggr (“leg, bone of the arm or leg”),[3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *lagjaz,[3][5] the source also of Danish læg and Swedish lägg “the calf of the leg”,[3][4] a word with no certain further connections.[3][5] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster compare Old English līra “fleshy part of the body” and Latin lacertus “muscle, upper arm”,[4][2] and Buck suggests a root meaning “to bend”.[3] It replaced Old English shank.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of the limbs of support and movement: the late 13th century in Etymonline,[3] about 1275 in the OED.[7]

Semantic evolution

It is distinguished from an arm or fin in being used for support.[3] Of trouser legs it is from the 1570s,[3] of the sides of a triangle from the 1650s, translating Greek skelos,[3] and of furniture supports from the 1670s.[3] On one's last legs is from the 1590s.[3] A ship's run on a single tack (1867) gave the sense “a stage of a journey or race” (1920).[3][6] To take leg bail, to run away, was old slang (1774),[3] shake a leg meant “dance” from 1869 and “hurry up” from 1880,[3] and legs, staying power, is from 1970s show business.[3] The verb leg it, “to walk fast, run”, is from about 1500[3] or 1601 in the OED.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1275 – the limb.[7]
  • c. 1500 – verb, leg it.[3]
  • 1570s – a trouser leg.[3]
  • 1590s – on one's last legs.[3]
  • 1670s – a furniture leg.[3]
  • 1867 – a ship's run on one tack.[3]
  • 1920 – a stage of a journey.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A limb of an animal used for support and walking.
  2. One of the lower limbs of a human being, especially the part between the knee and the foot.
  3. A supporting part like a leg, as of a table.
  4. The part of a garment that covers the leg.
  5. A stage of a journey or race.
  6. Either side of a triangle other than the base or hypotenuse.

Verb

  1. (informal) To go on foot; to walk or run: leg it.

Word family

  • legless
  • leglike
  • leg out
  • shank
  • legging
  • leggy
  • limb
  • foot

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press