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Added 9 October 2026

shank

/ˈʃæŋk/ noun

Categories: Food & DrinkThe BodyRare Words

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about shank at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle.
  2. Meat from that part of an animal.
  3. A redshank or greenshank, various species of Old World wading birds in the genus Tringa having distinctly colored legs.

verb

  1. To travel on foot.
  2. To stab, especially with an improvised blade.
  3. To remove another's trousers, especially in jest; to depants.

Origin

Inherited from Middle English sceonke, schank, schanke, shanke, schonke, sconke, sschanke, from Old English sċanca, sċeanca, sċeonca (“leg”), from Proto-West Germanic *skankō, from Proto-Germanic *skankô (“shank; thigh”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keng- (“to hobble, limp; to tilt”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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