Hindleg

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A rear leg of a quadruped animal such as a dog, horse, or insect
2. The back limb of a four-legged creature used for locomotion and support
3. One of the posterior legs found on animals that walk on four limbs

Etymology: "Hindleg" is simply an alternative spelling of "hind leg," so its history is that of the two words placed together. "Hind" comes from Old English "hindan," meaning "from behind" or "at the back," and it has long been used to mark the rear of an animal, as opposed to the front legs. "Leg," by contrast, is a word of Scandinavian origin that came into English around the 1200s and largely displaced the native Old English term "shank" for the limb itself. Written as one closed word, the compound follows the usual English habit of fusing a noun with a modifier, which is why both spellings appear in dictionaries. The open two-word form is the more common one in modern print, while the closed form turns up as a variant.

Synonyms: hindlimb

Antonyms: foreleg, forelimb