Recent Examples on the Web Try it with jeans and heeled ankle booties for a dressier look or with a plaid shacket and a beanie for a classic fall look. — Michelle Rostamian, Peoplemag, 16 Aug. 2024 Pair it with sandals on a warm day or a denim jacket with ankle booties once the temperatures drop. — Wendy Vazquez, Southern Living, 16 Aug. 2024 The pant features a tailored fit with a slight flare at the ankle. — Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 15 Aug. 2024 Special to the Detroit Free Press This is the story of two men who crossed paths 19 years ago while being treated for injuries — a football player with a torn Achilles tendon and an auto executive who took a slap shot to the ankle while playing ice hockey. — Phoebe Wall Howard, Detroit Free Press, 15 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for ankle
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ankle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Middle English ancle, ankill, perhaps going back to an unattested Old English outcome of Germanic *ankula- (whence Old Frisian & Middle Dutch ankel "ankle," Old High German anchal) alongside *ankila- (whence 16th-century Dutch enckel "ankle," Middle Low German enkel, Old High German enchil) and *ankilōn-, *ankulōn- (whence Old High German anchla, anchala, anchila "ankle," Old Norse ǫkkla), diminutive of a base seen in *ankjōn- (whence Old High German ancha, anca "limb, nape of the neck," Old Norse ekkja "heel"), of uncertain origin
Note: Middle English ancle is often presumed to have been borrowed from a Scandinavian predecessor (with a preserved nasal consonant) of the Norse etymon attested as ǫkkla in Old Icelandic. Complicating the already complex mixture of forms given above are Middle English anclee, anclowe and their modern dialect descendants such as ancliff, ankley, which go back to Old English anclēow, anclēowe "ankle," cognate with Old Frisian onklef, anklef, Middle Dutch anclau, anclief, Old High German anchlao; these appear to show conflation with the outcomes of Germanic *klawō- "claw" (as Old English clawu, clēa "claw, hoof"; see claw entry 1). Germanic *ankula- is usually further identified with Indo-European *h2eng-(e)lo- (see angle entry 1), though the etymon could equally well be derived within Germanic from the base *ank- seen in Old High German ancha. The latter has been connected with Sanskrit áṅgam "limb, member" and aṅgúliḥ, aṅgúriḥ "finger, toe," which appears to have suffixation similar to Germanic *ankula-.
First Known Usebefore the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1