Etymograph

English

heel

Heel comes from Old English hēla ‘heel (of the foot)’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kenk- ‘to feel hunger’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kenk-1‘to feel hunger’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hanhaz2‘heel, hock’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hanhilaz2‘heel (of the foot)’reconstructeddiminutive of *hanhaz
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hą̄hilō2reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēla2‘heel (of the foot)’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hele2
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602heel2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *hanhaz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English heel
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “I cannot sing, Nor heel the high lavolt.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kenk-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *hanhaz‘to feel hunger’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hanhazWiktionary, English heel‘heel, hock’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hanhilazWiktionary, English heel‘heel (of the foot)’reconstructeddiminutive of *hanhaz
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hą̄hilōWiktionary, English heelreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēlaWiktionary, English heel‘heel (of the foot)’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heleWiktionary, English heel
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602heelWiktionary, English heel. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “I cannot sing, Nor heel the high lavolt.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kenk- ‘to feel hunger’

hungry, hunger

through Proto-Germanic *hanhaz ‘heel, hock’

hough, hock

through Old English hēla ‘heel (of the foot)’

hallo

through Middle English hele

hale

Another origin of heel

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kel-‘to tilt, tip, incline’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*halþijaną‘to bend, incline, pour, empty’uncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*halþijan‘to tilt, to incline’uncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hieldanas hyldan‘to incline’uncertain
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heldenuncertain
  6. Englishtodayheel

Probably inferred from hielded, the past tense of hield, from Middle English helden, heelden, from Old English hyldan, hieldan (‘to incline’), cognate with Old Norse hella (‘to pour out’) (whence Danish hælde (‘lean, pour’)).

Today it means

noun The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “heel”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *hanhaz. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kenk- / heel

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