short-legged

adjective

Having short legs, particularly in proportion to one's body.

Meanings

adjectiveshort-legged (comparative more short-legged, superlative most short-legged)

comparative more short-legged · superlative most short-legged

  1. Having short legs, particularly in proportion to one's body.

    However, small, deep-bodied, shortlegged cattle have been known in Ireland since Celtic times.

    1995, Marleen Felius, Cattle Breeds: An Encyclopedia
    2 more examples

    The two dogs were beagles, shortlegged and frantic, leaping in and out of the chest-high fall of snow, or plowing their noses through it and furrowing snow up and past their ears, their tails spinning, then looking up with white brows and whiskers, gnomic and hoary-faced as little old men.

    2010, Cormac McCarthy, The Orchard Keeper, page 135

    A droll man with a quiet voice and a talent for mimicking almost anyone with tart accuracy, he had the mate down to a fault already, that officer's shortlegged strut, his mad glare and, at a much—reduced volume to avoid detection, his bullhorn bellow.

    2011, Derek Lundy, The Way of a Ship: A Square-Rigger Voyage in the Last Days of Sail, page 56

Origin

Translations

Ancient Greek μικροσκελής
  • μικροσκελής (mikroskelḗs)having short legs
Catalan camacurt
  • camacurthaving short legs
Danish kortbenet
  • kortbenethaving short legs
Finnish lyhytjalkainen, persjalkainen
  • lyhytjalkainenhaving short legs
  • persjalkainenhaving short legs
French court sur pattes
  • court sur patteshaving short legs
German kurzbeinig
  • kurzbeinighaving short legs
Greek μικροσκελής
  • μικροσκελής (mikroskelís)having short legs
Irish gearrchosach
  • gearrchosachhaving short legs
Polish krótkonogi
  • krótkonogihaving short legs
Russian коротконо́гий
  • коротконо́гий (korotkonógij)having short legs
Spanish paticorto
  • paticortohaving short legs
Turkish bacaksız
  • bacaksızhaving short legs
Cite this entry
APA

short-legged. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/short-legged

MLA

“short-legged.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/short-legged. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “short-legged,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/short-legged.

Source: short-legged on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.