Leg vs. Shank — What's the Difference?

A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts".

A person's leg, especially the part from the knee to the ankle

Each of the limbs on which a person or animal walks and stands

A long, narrow part of a tool connecting the handle to the operational end

Each of the supports of a chair, table, or other structure

A part or appendage by which something is attached to something else, especially a wire loop attached to the back of a button.

A section or stage of a journey or process

The narrow middle of the sole of a shoe

A branch of a forked object.

A makeshift knife fashioned from a sharp item such as broken glass or a razor

The half of the field (as divided lengthways through the pitch) away from which the batsman's feet are pointed when standing to receive the ball

An act of striking the ball with the heel of the club

A deferential gesture made by drawing back one leg and bending it while keeping the front leg straight.

Strike (the ball) with the heel of the club

Travel by foot; walk

Slash or stab (someone), especially with a makeshift knife

Propel (a boat) through a tunnel on a canal by pushing with one's legs against the tunnel roof or sides

The part of the human leg between the knee and ankle.

One of the limbs or appendages that an animal uses for locomotion or support.

A corresponding part in other vertebrates.

One of the lower or hind limbs in humans and other primates.

The whole leg of a human.

The part of the limb between the knee and foot in vertebrates.

A leg or leglike part.

The back part of the hindquarter of a meat animal.

A cut of meat from the leg of a steer, calf, sheep, or lamb.

A supporting part resembling a leg in shape or function.

The long narrow part of a nail or pin.

One of the branches of a forked or jointed object.

A stem, stalk, or similar part.

The part of a garment, especially of a pair of pants, that covers the leg.

(Nautical) The stem of an anchor.

(Mathematics) Either side of a right triangle that is not the hypotenuse.

The long shaft of a fishhook.

(Nautical) The distance traveled by a sailing vessel on a single tack.

The part of a tobacco pipe between the bowl and stem.

The part of an air route or a flight pattern that is between two successive stops, positions, or changes in direction.

The shaft of a key.

One of several contests that must be successfully completed in order to determine the winner of a competition.

The narrow section of the handle of a spoon.

(Sports) One stretch of a relay race.

(Printing) The section of a body of type between the shoulder and the foot.

Legs The narrow streams of swirled wine or spirits that run slowly down along the inside of a glass, often believed to indicate that the liquid is full-bodied.

The narrow part of the sole of a shoe under the instep.

Legs(Slang) The ability to last or sustain success, especially by appealing to an audience

A piece of material, such as metal, that is used to reinforce or shape this part of a shoe.

To go on foot; walk or run. Often used with the indefinite it

A projection, such as a ring, on the back of a button by which it is sewn to cloth.

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

See tang1.

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

The part of a tool, such as a drill, that connects the functioning head to the handle.

(anatomy) The portion of the lower limb of a human that extends from the knee to the ankle.

The latter or remaining part, especially of a period of time.

A part of garment, such as a pair of trousers/pants, that covers a leg.

The early or primary part of a period of time

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

(Slang) A knife or other sharp, pointed implement, especially one that has been fashioned from something else; a shiv.

(figurative) Something that supports.

To hit (a golf ball) with the heel of the club, causing the ball to veer in the wrong direction.

A stage of a journey, race etc.

(Slang) To stab (a person) with a sharp, pointed implement.

(nautical) A distance that a sailing vessel does without changing the sails from one side to the other.

The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle.

(nautical) One side of a multiple-sided (often triangular) course in a sailing race.

Meat from that part of an animal.

(sports) A single game or match played in a tournament or other sporting contest.

A redshank or greenshank, various species of Old World wading birds in the genus Tringa having distinctly colored legs.

(geometry) One of the two sides of a right triangle that is not the hypotenuse.

A straight, narrow part of an object, such as a key or an anchor; shaft; stem.

(geometry) One of the branches of a hyperbola or other curve which extend outward indefinitely.

The handle of a pair of shears, connecting the ride to the neck.

The ability of something to persist or succeed over a long period of time.

The center part of a fishhook between the eye and the hook, the 'hook' being the curved part that bends toward the point.

A disreputable sporting character; a blackleg.

A protruding part of an object, by which it is or can be attached.

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.

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.

In a grain elevator, the case containing the lower part of the belt which carries the buckets.

(golf) A poorly played golf shot in which the ball is struck by the part of the club head that connects to the shaft.

Denotes the half of the field on the same side as the batsman's legs; the left side for a right-handed batsman.

(slang) An improvised stabbing weapon.

(telephony) A branch or lateral circuit connecting an instrument with the main line.

A loop forming an eye to a button.

(electrical) A branch circuit; one phase of a polyphase system.

(architecture) The space between two channels of the Doric triglyph.

(finance) An underlying instrument of a derivatives strategy.

(metalworking) A large ladle for molten metal, fitted with long bars for handling it.

An army soldier assigned to a paratrooper unit who has not yet been qualified as a paratrooper.

The body of a type; between the shoulder and the foot.

(archaic) A gesture of submission; a bow or curtsey. Chiefly in phrase make a leg.

(shoemaking) The part of the sole beneath the instep connecting the broader front part with the heel.

(journalism) A column, as a unit of length of text as laid out.

Flat-nosed pliers, used by opticians for nipping off the edges of pieces of glass to make them round.

To remove the legs from an animal carcass.

The end or remainder, particularly of a period of time.

To build legs onto a platform or stage for support.

The main part or beginning of a period of time.

To put a series of three or more options strikes into the stock market.

To travel on foot.

To apply force using the leg (as in 'to leg a horse').

(slang) To stab, especially with an improvised blade.

Alternative spelling of leg.

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

A limb or member of an animal used for supporting the body, and in running, climbing, and swimming; esp., that part of the limb between the knee and foot.

To misstrike the ball with the part of the club head that connects to the shaft.

That which resembles a leg in form or use; especially, any long and slender support on which any object rests; as, the leg of a table; the leg of a pair of compasses or dividers.

To hit or kick the ball in an unintended direction.

The part of any article of clothing which covers the leg; as, the leg of a stocking or of a pair of trousers.

(intransitive) To fall off, as a leaf, flower, or capsule, on account of disease affecting the supporting footstalk; usually followed by off.

A bow, esp. in the phrase to make a leg; probably from drawing the leg backward in bowing.

To provide (a button) with a shank loop forming an eye.

A disreputable sporting character; a blackleg.

(shoemaking) To apply the shank to a shoe, during the process of manufacturing it.

The course and distance made by a vessel on one tack or between tacks.

(slang) Bad.

An extension of the 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.

See Chank.

The case containing the lower part of the belt which carries the buckets.

The part of the leg from the knee to the foot; the shin; the shin bone; also, the whole leg.

A fielder whose position is on the outside, a little in rear of the batter.

Hence, that part of an instrument, tool, or other thing, which connects the acting part with a handle or other part, by which it is held or moved.

Either side of a triangle distinguished from the base or, in a right triangle, from the hypotenuse; also, an indefinitely extending branch of a curve, as of a hyperbola.

The space between two channels of the Doric triglyph.

A branch or lateral circuit connecting an instrument with the main line.

A large ladle for molten metal, fitted with long bars for handling it.

A branch circuit; one phase of a polyphase system.

The body of a type.

To use as a leg, with it as object

The part of the sole beneath the instep connecting the broader front part with the heel.

A human limb; commonly used to refer to a whole limb but technically only the part between the knee and ankle

A wading bird with long legs; as, the green-legged shank, or knot; the yellow shank, or tattler; - called also shanks.

A structure in animals that is similar to a human leg and used for locomotion

Flat-nosed pliers, used by opticians for nipping off the edges of pieces of glass to make them round.

One of the supports for a piece of furniture

To fall off, as a leaf, flower, or capsule, on account of disease affecting the supporting footstalk; - usually followed by off.

A part of a forked or branching shape;

A cut of meat (beef or veal or mutton or lamb) from the upper part of the leg

The limb of an animal used for food

The part of the human leg between the knee and the ankle

A prosthesis that replaces a missing leg

Cylinder forming a long narrow part of something

Cloth covering consisting of the part of a garment that covers the leg

Cylinder forming the part of a bolt between the thread and the head

(nautical) the distance traveled by a sailing vessel on a single tack

Cylinder forming the part of a bit by which it is held in the drill

A section or portion of a journey or course;

The narrow part of the shoe connecting the heel and the wide part of the sole

Lower part of the leg extending from the hock to the fetlock in hoofed mammals

A poor golf stroke in which the heel of the club hits the ball

Hit (a golf ball) with the heel of a club, causing the ball to veer in the wrong direction