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SHANK
Definition of SHANK
noun
The part of the leg between the knee and the ankle.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Inherited from Middle English sceonke, schank, schanke, shanke, schonke, sconke, sschanke, from Old English sċanca, sċeanca, sċeonca (“leg”), from Proto-West Germanic *skankō, from Proto-Germanic *skankô (“shank; thigh”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keng- (“to hobble, limp; to tilt”). Cognate with West Frisian skonk (“leg”), Dutch schenkel (“shank”), German and Luxembourgish Schenkel (“thigh”), Danish skank (“shank; leg”), Norwegian Nynorsk skank, skonk (“thigh; foot”), Swedish skank, skånk (“leg”); also Cornish kamm (“pace, step”), Irish céim (“pace, step”), Manx keim (“degree, pace, stage, step”), Scottish Gaelic ceum (“pace, step”), Welsh cam (“pace, step”), Greek σκάω (skáo), σκάζω (skázo, “to burst, explode”), Bulgarian and Macedonian шега́ (šegá, “jest, joke; prank”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
8.9%
of traced words share this origin (2,636)
How it is built
Same root, SHANK · 3 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Danish, Dutch, Irish, Norwegian, Scottish Gaelic, Swedish, Welsh.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SHANK in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 49 boards so far. 165 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 7, 28 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 151, 18 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 7, 28 May 2026.
Built from these letters
SHANK starts with S and ends with K. Sorted, its letters read AHKNS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
3 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start SHANK
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 7
Could you have found SHANK?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 7 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER