lank
/ˈleɪ̯ŋk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.97 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "Run barefoot up and down, threat’ning the flames With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe, About her lank and all o’erteemed loins, A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;"
- "1700, Isaac Barrow, Sermon XXII “Of Industry in our particular Calling, as Scholars,” in The Works of the Learned Isaac Barrow, D.D., London: John Tillotson, 2nd edition, Volume III, p. 226, […] who would not chuse […] to have rather a lank purse than an empty brain […] ?"
- "1724-5, Jonathan Swift, “A Receipt. To Restore Stella’s Youth” in The Works of Jonathan Swift, London: Henry Washbourne, 1841, Volume 1, p. 687, Meagre and lank with fasting grown, And nothing left but skin and bone;"
- "The cognomen of Crane was not inapplicable to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together."
- "[…] while I stood in the dark, a hand touched mine, lank fingers came feeling over my face, and I was sensible of a peculiar unpleasant odour."
- "Blacks in the fields, lank and stooped, their fingers spiderlike among the bolls of cotton."
Etymology
From Middle English lank, from Old English hlanc, from Proto-West Germanic *hlank, from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“lank, thin”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng- (“to bend, turn, wind, twist”); compare German lenken (“to turn”), Gelenk (“joint”), Old High German hlanca (“hip, side, flank”), and English link (of a chain).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: lank, hlanc, *hlank, *hlankaz, *kleng-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈleɪ̯ŋk/