English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Blend of calf +‎ ankle

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cankle (plural cankles)

  1. (originally slang, usually derogatory) An obese or otherwise swollen ankle that blends into the calf without clear demarcation. [from 2000s]
    • 2001, Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly, Shallow Hal:
      Hey, all l’m saying is she’s got cankles, for God’s sake. What? Cankles! She’s got no ankles. It’s like the calf merged with the foot, cut out the middleman.
    • 2004, Jeff Smith, Posing for Portrait Photography: A Head-to-Toe Guide:
      The “cankle” (or the appearance of not having an ankle, but the calf of the leg just connecting to the foot) is a look that many women have and most could live without.
    • 2005, Franz Wisner, Honeymoon with my Brother:
      They’d pass me magazines and ask how my cankle recovery was progressing. They’re ankles, not cankles. I don’t have cankles!
    • 2007, “Bill & Peter's Bogus Journey”, in Family Guy, season 5, episode 13:
      Now that's a cankle! Where does the calf fat end and the ankle fat begin? Who knows, that's the fun!
    • 2008 September 13, Saturday Night Live, spoken by Hillary Clinton (Amy Poehler):
      Stop saying I have cankles!
    • 2017 January 27, Pierre Andre, Eckart Haneke, Leonardo Marini, Christopher Rowland Payne, Cosmetic Medicine and Surgery, CRC Press, →ISBN:
      Laserassisted lipolysis for cankle remodelling: A prospective study in 30 patients. Lasers Med Sci 2014; 29:131–136. Leclère FM, Trelles M, MorenoMoraga J, Servell P, Unglaub F, Mordon SR. 980nm laser lipolysis (LAL): About 674 []

Usage notes

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Although originally and colloquially used with negative connotations, the term is increasingly used in neutral and medical-scientific contexts. It is even occasionally used affectionately.

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