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shank

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shank¹

  • /ˈʃæŋk/
  • [ˈʃʰæŋk]
  • /ˈʃeɪ̯ŋk/ Canada, US
  • [ˈʃʰeɪ̯ŋk] Canada, US
  • /ˈʃɛ̃ŋk/ Canada, US
  • [ˈʃʰɛ̃ŋk] Canada, US

Rhymes with -æŋk

Where it comes from

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”).

Cognates

Cognate with West Frisian skonk (“leg”), Dutch schenkel (“shank”), German and Luxembourgish Schenkel (“thigh”), Danish skank (“shank; leg”), Norwegian Nynorsk skank, skonk (“thigh; foot”), Swedish skank, skånk (“leg”); also Cornish kamm (“pace, step”), Irish céim (“pace, step”), Manx keim (“degree, pace, stage, step”), Scottish Gaelic ceum (“pace, step”), Welsh cam (“pace, step”), Greek σκάω (skáo), σκάζω (skázo, “to burst, explode”), Bulgarian and Macedonian шега́ (šegá, “jest, joke; prank”).

noun shanks

  1. The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle. Edward I of England was nicknamed Edward Longshanks.
  2. Meat from that part of an animal.
  3. colloquial A redshank or greenshank, various species of Old World wading birds in the genus Tringa having distinctly colored legs.
  4. A straight, narrow part of an object, such as a key or an anchor; shaft; stem. The honest, rough piece of iron, so simple in appearance, has more parts than the human body has limbs: the ring, the stock, the crown, the flukes, the palms, the shank. All this, according to the journalist, is “cast” when a ship arriving at an anchorage is brought up.
  5. The handle of a pair of shears, connecting the ride to the neck.
  6. The center part of a fishhook between the eye and the hook, the 'hook' being the curved part that bends toward the point.
  7. A protruding part of an object, by which it is or can be attached. This twist drill has a reduced shank so that it can be used even in a small chuck.
  8. The metal part on a curb bit that falls below the mouthpiece, which length controls the severity of the leverage action of the bit, and to which the reins of the bridle are attached.
  9. A poorly played golf shot in which the ball is struck by the part of the club head that connects to the shaft. To a good golfer a shank is disgracefuller than being dead drunk or in jail.
  10. The part of the sole beneath the instep connecting the broader front part with the heel.
  11. A metal strip strengthening the waists of shoes. (Also shankpiece.)
  12. slang An improvised stabbing weapon, originally in prison, possibly from the strips of metal in shoes. LBC's tryna blackball me / And tryna blame your boy for knife crime (Like, what?) / I don't use a shank, I got money in the bank / Man, I'd rather do a drive-by

    Similar: shiv

  13. A loop forming an eye to a button.
  14. The space between two channels of the Doric triglyph.
  15. A large ladle for molten metal, fitted with long bars for handling it.
  16. dated The body of a type; between the shoulder and the foot.
  17. Flat-nosed pliers, used by opticians for nipping off the edges of pieces of glass to make them round.
  18. The end or remainder, particularly of a period of time.
  19. The main part or beginning of a period of time. the shank of the morning

verb shanks · shanking · shanked

  1. Ulster, archaic To travel on foot.

    Similar: pedestrianize, walk, ambulate, navigate, raik

  2. slang To stab, especially with an improvised blade. Casey: You're being too honest. You gotta... tell 'em what they want to hear. You gotta lie, dude. Sam: I can't lie. I'm bad at it and I don't like it. What's the point? Casey: Well, imagine if you didn't like your boss at work. Sam: I do. I like Bob. Casey: I know, that's why I said "imagine". If y

    Similar: jab, shiv, chef, chib, ching, chive, enthrill, foin, gore, gride, job, juke

  3. slang To remove another's trousers, especially in jest; to depants.

    Similar: debag, depants

  4. transitive To misstrike the ball with the part of the club head that connects to the shaft.
  5. transitive To hit or kick the ball in an unintended direction. Marouane Chamakh then spurned a great chance to kill the game off when he ran onto Andrey Arshavin's lofted through ball but shanked his shot horribly across the face of goal.
  6. intransitive To fall off, as a leaf, flower, or capsule, on account of disease affecting the supporting footstalk; usually followed by off. the gerrnens of these swelled, and on four out of the six I have now got fine pods, above 1% inch in length, with the seeds externally visible; whereas the flower stalks of the many other flowers all shanked off.
  7. transitive To provide (a button) with a shank (loop forming an eye). The system is suitable for shanking all kind of sewn buttons (jackets, coats, blouses, shirts, trousers).
  8. To apply the shank to a shoe, during the process of manufacturing it. I take those metal shanks, slide the backs of them in glue and make them lie down on the shoe-bottoms, […] Last week they ran a contest to see which shankers shanked fastest. I'm not embarrassed to say I beat them all.

adjective shanker · shankest

  1. slang Bad.

Shank²

proper noun Shanks

  1. A surname.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: waist, cannon, stem, rod, sword, blade, shiv, knife, stab, swordsman, splint, shoot, handle, slide, film, corps

Translations

Every language

noun lower part of the leg

Portuguêscanela
Françaisjambe
DeutschUnterschenkel
Italianogamba
Românăgambă
Русскийго́лень gólenʹ, плюсна́ pljusná
العربيةعُرْقُوب ʕurqūb

noun meat from that part of animal

Françaisjarret
DeutschBeinstück, Hachse
Italianostinco
Românărasol

noun a bird of the genus Tringa

Русскийулит ulit

noun straight, narrow part of an object

Françaistringle
Italianogambo
Русскийсте́ржень stérženʹ

noun protruding part of an object, by which it can be attached

Русскийхвостови́к xvostovík

noun an improvised stabbing weapon

Españolpincho

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Cite this
MLA

"shank." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/shank. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

shank. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/shank

Chicago

"shank." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/shank.

BibTeX
@misc{shank_2026,
  title = {shank},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/shank},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}