heel
/hil/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.84 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The part of the palm of a hand closest to the wrist.
noun
noun
The thickening of the neck of a stringed instrument where it attaches to the body.
Example Sentences
- "He [the stag] calls to mind his strength and then his speed, / His winged heels and then his armed head."
- "He drove the heel of his hand into the man's nose."
- "She'd been wearing heels, and fell backward off her right heel and twisted or broke her ankle."
- "Opting to improve her odds of making it up the stairs and into the privacy of her room, she kicked off her left heel, and then her right before leaning down to scoop them up."
- "Flat shoes. As she pushed off her left heel and pressed the sole of her foot to the cold floor she looked forward to them."
- "Oh mama, I'm just having fun On the stage in my heels It's where I belong down at the..."
Etymology
From Middle English hele, from Old English hēla, from Proto-West Germanic *hą̄hilō, from Proto-Germanic *hanhilaz, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *hanhaz (“heel, hock”), equivalent to hock + -le. More at hock. Compare North Frisian haiel, West Frisian hyl, Dutch hiel, German Low German Hiel, Danish and Norwegian hæl, Swedish häl.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /hil/
- British English: /hiːl/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Achilles' heel
Achilles heel
at someone's heels
back-heel
bread heel
bring someone to heel
bring to heel
cool one's heels