leg

From Middle English leg, legge, from Old Norse leggr (“leg, calf, bone of the arm or leg, hollow tube, stalk”), from Proto-Germanic *lagjaz, *lagwijaz (“leg, thigh”) (see it for more).

Cognate with Scots leg (“leg”), Icelandic leggur (“leg, limb”), Norwegian Bokmål legg (“leg”), Norwegian Nynorsk legg (“leg”), Swedish lägg (“leg, shank, shaft”), Danish læg (“leg”), Lombardic lagi (“thigh, shank, leg”), Latin lacertus (“limb, arm”), Persian لنگ (leng). Upon borrowing, mostly displaced the native Old English term sċanca (Modern English shank).

Picture dictionary
leg knee ankle knee ankle hip thigh knee calf ankle foot
Click on labels in the image

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /lɛɡ/
• (some US dialects) IPA^(key): /leɪɡ/[1]

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ɛɡ

leg (plural legs)

1. A limb or appendage that an animal uses for support or locomotion on land.

   Insects have six legs.

2. In humans, the lower limb extending from the groin to the ankle.

   Dan won't be able to come to the party, since he broke his leg last week and is now on crutches.

3. (anatomy) The portion of the lower limb of a human that extends from the knee to the ankle.
4. A part of garment, such as a pair of trousers/pants, that covers a leg.

   The left leg of these jeans has a tear.

5. A rod-like protrusion from an inanimate object, such as a piece of furniture, supporting it from underneath.

   the legs of a chair or table

6. (figurative) Something that supports.

   This observation is an important leg of my argument.

7. A stage of a journey, race etc.

   After six days, we're finally in the last leg of our cross-country trip.

8. (nautical) A distance that a sailing vessel does without changing the sails from one side to the other.
9. (nautical) One side of a multiple-sided (often triangular) course in a sailing race.
10. (sports) A single game or match played in a tournament or other sporting contest.
    • 2011 November 11, Rory Houston, “Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland”, in RTE Sport‎:

      A stunning performance from the Republic of Ireland all but sealed progress to Euro 2012 as they crushed nine-man Estonia 4-0 in the first leg of the qualifying play-off tie in A Le Coq Arena in Tallinn.

11. (geometry) One of the two sides of a right triangle that is not the hypotenuse.
12. (geometry) One of the two equal sides of an isosceles triangle.
13. (geometry) One of the branches of a hyperbola or other curve which extend outward indefinitely.
14. (usually in the plural) The ability of something to persist or succeed over a long period of time.

    This proposal has no legs. Almost everyone opposes it.

    • 2020 February 2, “One is a great guy; the other is good in bed. So who do I choose?”, in The Guardian‎:

      I’m trying to go with my head and focus on the first guy, because this could be a relationship with legs.

15. (UK, slang, archaic) A disreputable sporting character; a blackleg.
16. An extension of a steam boiler downward, in the form of a narrow space between vertical plates, sometimes nearly surrounding the furnace and ash pit, and serving to support the boiler; called also water leg.
17. In a grain elevator, the case containing the lower part of the belt which carries the buckets.
18. (cricket, attributive) Denotes the half of the field on the same side as the batsman's legs; the left side for a right-handed batsman.

    Synonym: on; Antonym: off

    Ponsonby-Smythe hit a thumping drive through the leg fielders.

19. (telephony) A branch or lateral circuit connecting an instrument with the main line.
20. (electrical) A branch circuit; one phase of a polyphase system.
21. (finance) An underlying instrument of a derivatives strategy.
22. (US, slang, military) An army soldier assigned to a paratrooper unit who has not yet been qualified as a paratrooper.
    • 2019, Elliot Murphy, A Vietnam Story, page 94:

      Which was lower than whale shit in the eyes of any paratrooper; it would have been a disgrace to be a leg.

23. (archaic) A gesture of submission; a bow or curtsey. Chiefly in phrase make a leg.
    • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LXXIV”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson;  […], →OCLC:

      Hickman came in, making his legs, and stroking his cravat and ruffles.

24. (journalism) A column, as a unit of length of text as laid out.
    • 2015, Homer L. Hall, Megan Fromm, Aaron Manfull, Student Journalism & Media Literacy, page 266:

      A leg is one column of a story. It has two legs if it is set in two columns and three legs if it is set in three columns. Avoid legs longer than 10 inches and shorter than 1 inch.

25. Synonym of leg up (“forming a step for a person's feet with one's hands”)
    • 1902, The Idler: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine, volume 21, page 737:

      The street was deserted. We acted quickly. Josiah gave me a leg. I threw my jacket over the broken glass […]

26. (gambling) An individual bet in a parlay (a series of bets where the stake and winnings are cumulatively carried forward).
    • 2020, Swain Scheps, Sports Betting For Dummies, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., →ISBN, page 265:

      If one leg from your 2-way parlay pushes and the other wins, your parlay bet wins and is paid off as if it's a straight bet (paying -110 or whatever the odds were).

• legge (obsolete)

• (part of garment that covers a leg): pant leg, pantleg (Canada, US)
• (side of a right triangle): cathetus

• → Finnish: legi
• → Hungarian: leg

leg (third-person singular simple present legs, present participle legging, simple past and past participle legged)

1. To remove the legs from an animal carcass.
2. To build legs onto a platform or stage for support.
3. To put a series of three or more options strikes into the stock market.
4. To apply force using the leg (as in 'to leg a horse').

• leg it

leg (plural not attested)

1. Alternative spelling of leg.

leg (not comparable)

1. Alternative spelling of leg.

• “leg”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “leg”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “leg”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “leg”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.

• ELG, ElG, gel

• legu

From Latin ligō. Compare Romanian lega, leg.

leg first-singular present indicative (second-person singular present indicative ledz, third-person singular present indicative leadzi or leadze, second-person plural present indicative ligats, past participle ligatã)

1. to tie, bind

• ligari / ligare
• ligat
• ligãturã
• ligãmintu
• dizleg

• adun
• mpriunedz

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɑjˀ]
• Homophone: lej
• Rhymes: -aj

From Old Norse leikr, from Proto-Germanic *laikaz.

leg c (singular definite legen, plural indefinite lege)

1. play, game
2. (zoology) spawning (fish)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

leg

1. imperative of lege

leg

1. neck; throat

• IPA^(key): /lɛx/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: leg
• Rhymes: -ɛx
• Homophone: Leg

leg

1. inflection of leggen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

• gel

• lege

• IPA^(key): /leːk/

• Audio

  (file)

leg

1. (colloquial) first-person singular present of legen
2. singular imperative of legen
3. (colloquial) first-person singular subjunctive I of legen
4. (colloquial) third-person singular subjunctive I of legen

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɛɡ]
• Hyphenation: leg
• Rhymes: -ɛɡ

Back-formation from leg- (prefix forming superlative adjectives).

leg (plural legek)

1. (chiefly in the plural, informal) best, most (record-setting achievement, property or amount)

   a labdarúgás legjei ― the best [achievements] of football

   a legek legje (singular) ― the best of the best

From English leg (“single game or match played in a tournament”).

leg (plural legek)

1. (darts) leg (single game played in darts)

• IPA^(key): /lɛːɣ/
• Rhymes: -ɛːɣ

leg n (genitive singular legs, nominative plural leg)

1. uterus

• leggöng
• legháls
• leghálssýking
• legnám

Akin to Italian legge, from Latin lex.

leg

1. law

Akin to Italian leggere, from Latin legere.

leg

1. to read

• legge, leggue, leige, lige

From Old Norse leggr, from Proto-Germanic *lagjaz.

• IPA^(key): /lɛɡ/

leg (plural legges)

1. leg, limb
2. shank, shin
3. leg (cut of meat)
4. leg armour
5. The stem of a wine glass

• English: leg
  • → Finnish: legi
  • → Hungarian: leg
• Scots: leg

• “leg, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-05.

leg

1. imperative of lege

From Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

leg n

1. burial place

• legkaup n (“burial fee”)
• legstaðr m (“burial place”)
• legsteinn m (“tombstone”)

• “leg”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

• IPA^(key): /lɛk/
• Rhymes: -ɛk
• Syllabification: leg
• Homophones: lek, Lek

leg

1. genitive plural of lega

• IPA^(key): [leɡ]

leg

1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of lega

• legg

leg

1. certified, authorized; indicating an authorized medical doctor, not a quack. Abbreviation of legitimerad.

leg n

1. (colloquial) an ID card or other means of identification showing the owner's age; an ID; abbreviation of legitimation.

   Jag fick visa leg på systemet.

   I was carded at Systembolaget.

• falskleg (“fake ID”)

• lägg

• elg

From English leg.

leg

1. lower leg, foot

• ngar (western dialect)