Etymology

ankle-biter

Today it means: A small child. Full definition →

English biter ← Middle English ancle ← Old English *ancol
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eng-
  2. Proto-Germanic*ankulaz
  3. Proto-West Germanic*ankul
  4. Old English*ancol
  5. Middle Englishancle
  6. Englishankle
  7. Englishbiter
  8. English todayankle-biter

From ankle + biter.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.