# foot or leg



## Alijsh

In English "leg" is technically the part between the knee and ankle but commonly used to refer to the whole limb. In Persian, "foot" is used to refer to the whole limb. 

How about it in your language? Which one do you use to refer to the whole limb? And please write me both "foot" and "leg" in your language. Thanks.

Persian:
foot - *pâ*
leg - *sâq*


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## jonquiliser

Swedish:
Foot - fot (it's only the thingy with toes dangling from it that is called fot in Swedish )
Leg - ben (the thing going from your torso to your ankle. Incidentally, "ben" is also bone(s))


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## DrWatson

In Finnish, word *jalka* can mean both leg and foot. Sometimes when one needs to clarify it's the foot, and not the leg, one may say *jalkaterä*.


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## elroy

In standard Arabic we have رجل (_rijl_) for "foot" and ساق (_saaq_) for "leg," and the latter is used to refer to the whole limb.

In Palestinian Arabic, however, we use إجر (_ijer_) for all three.  (We do have separate words for "ankle" and "thigh," however; we just don't differentiate between "foot" and "leg").


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## cherine

elroy said:


> In standard Arabic we have رجل (_rijl_) for "foot" and ساق (_saaq_) for "leg," and the latter is used to refer to the whole limb.


I have to disagree. As far as I know:
foot قدم qadam
leg ساق saaq
And both together are referred to as rijl رجل . 


In Egyptian Arabic, we say regl رجل for the foot and the leg, and for both together.


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## elroy

cherine said:


> I have to disagree. As far as I know:
> foot قدم qadam
> leg ساق saaq
> And both together are referred to as rijl رجل .


 قدم is definitely a better translation of "foot," but رجل is sometimes used with that meaning.  For example, "the washing of the feet" is غسل الأرجل and not غسل الأقدام.

As for "the whole limb," I meant that ساق would be used to refer to the leg as Alijsh defined it (the part from the knee to the ankle) + the thigh.  Just to clarify that ساق does not include the foot.


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## Outsider

Portuguese:

from thigh to knee: *coxa*
from knee to foot: *perna*
foot: *pé*

the whole shebang: *perna*


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## Lello4ever

In Italian:

*Gamba: *from knee to foot, but used for the whole limb
*Coscia:* thigh
*Piede: *foot


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## Lemminkäinen

jonquiliser said:


> Swedish:
> Foot - fot (it's only the thingy with toes dangling from it that is called fot in Swedish )
> Leg - ben (the thing going from your torso to your ankle. Incidentally, "ben" is also bone(s))



Same in Norwegian, although it's written *bein* in most cases (*ben* is pretty radical bokmål).


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## Stéphane89

*In French:*

Foot = Pied
Leg = Jambe


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## betulina

In Catalan:

Foot - peu
Leg - cama --> also for the whole limb
Thigh - cuixa


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## jonquiliser

Outsider said:


> Portuguese:
> 
> from thigh to knee: *coxa*
> from knee to foot: *perna*
> foot: *pé*
> 
> the whole shebang: *perna*



In Galician, there's *pé* for foot, *perna* for leg; I don't know if there are more words that correspond with these uses. *Coxa*, on the other hand, is a lame person (as in, a person with difficulties walking, is for example limping).


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## Eáránë

Hey!

in Dutch:

foot = voet
leg = been (which looks a bit like the Swedish equivalent I've seen)

Eáránë


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## elpoderoso

Alijsh said:


> In English "leg" is technically the part between the knee and ankle but commonly used to refer to the whole limb. In Persian, "foot" is used to refer to the whole limb.
> 
> How about it in your language? Which one do you use to refer to the whole limb? And please write me both "foot" and "leg" in your language. Thanks.
> 
> Persian:
> foot - *pâ*
> leg - *sâq*


Are you sure? I have always known leg to refer to the whole limb. thigh refers to the upper half, below the knee it is the shin at the front and the calf at the back and finally the foot.


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## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish:*
foot: *ayak*
leg: *bacak* _(also refers to the whole limb)_


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## Outsider

jonquiliser said:


> In Galician, there's *pé* for foot, *perna* for leg; I don't know if there are more words that correspond with these uses. *Coxa*, on the other hand, is a lame person (as in, a person with difficulties walking, is for example limping).


Indeed, _coxa_ can also mean "lame" in Portuguese.


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## deine

Lithuanian:

foot - pėda
leg - koja (this is used more often)


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## jonquiliser

deine said:


> Lithuanian:
> 
> foot - pėda
> leg - koja (this is used more often)



This is strikingly similar to romance languages. How do you pronounce "koja"? Is the j at all like the English sh-sound? Then it would resemble the Portuguese (and Galician) coxa.


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## jonquiliser

Outsider said:


> Indeed, _coxa_ can also mean "lame" in Portuguese.



And I just checked, and _coxa_ in Galician also has the other meaning it has in Portuguese (i.e. the thigh part of the leg).


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## Alijsh

elpoderoso said:


> Are you sure? I have always known leg to refer to the whole limb. thigh refers to the upper half, below the knee it is the shin at the front and the calf at the back and finally the foot.


I think leg is a generic word (hypernym) for shin and calf. It technically refers to the lower half; both back and front.


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## Anatoli

In *Russian* (as in other Slavic languages), it's the same as in Finnish or Persian - one word:

 нога (nog*a*), read: [nag*a*]


*Chinese:*
leg: 腿 [tuǐ] 
foot: 1) 脚 (tradit.: 腳) jiǎo 2)足 zú

*Japanese:*
 足 (あし - ashi) foot _and_ leg


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## deine

jonquiliser said:


> This is strikingly similar to romance languages. How do you pronounce "koja"? Is the j at all like the English sh-sound? Then it would resemble the Portuguese (and Galician) coxa.


 
No, it is not like sh-sound. It is like normally J  I have no idea how to explain the pronouncation  
It is like in Russian "Ja" which means - I (me)


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## Qcumber

Tagalog (Philippines) has a single word for both the leg and the foot: *paá*. It is derived from Sanskrit _pada_.


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## Anatoli

deine said:


> No, it is not like sh-sound. It is like normally J  I have no idea how to explain the pronouncation
> It is like in Russian "Ja" which means - I (me)



Let me help you, I would use a "Y" in an English speaking forum.

So, "koja" is pronounced as "koya". Russian "ja" is not the best example, since we don't write in Latin but in Cyrillic and Russian "я" (I) is pronounced as "ya" (for the English speaker).

"J" is pronounced as "y" in "yes" in a lot of languages and in international transcription but there are also many, which use "J" to render a very different sound, e.g. English, French, Spanish, Pinyin (Mandarin transcription), etc.


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## samanthalee

Anatoli said:


> *Chinese:*
> leg: 腿 [tuǐ]
> foot: 1) 脚 (tradit.: 腳) jiǎo 2)足 zú
> leg


 
It is a little difficult to match the chinese words to English equivalence.

腿 [tui3] refers to the whole limb minus the foot. The thigh is called 大腿 [da4tui3] meaning big limb. The portion between the knee and ankle (shin and calf) is called 小腿 [xiao2tui3] meaning small limb.
足 [zu2] refers to the foot.
脚 [jiao3] refers to the whole limb. But it will be translated as "leg" because in practice, it is used in sentences in the same manner as "legs". 
Eg.
Walking with legs (用脚走路)
Snakes do not have legs (蛇没有脚)
Tripod (三脚架， three-legged stand)
But it does not refer to the portion between the knee and ankle, unlike "leg".


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## jonquiliser

deine said:


> No, it is not like sh-sound. It is like normally J  I have no idea how to explain the pronouncation
> It is like in Russian "Ja" which means - I (me)


 
Crystal clear!  And thanks Anatoli also for further descriptions.


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## Whodunit

German is like English:

foot = Fuß (only the last part of the whole leg with the five toes)
leg = Bein (the thing that goes from your pelvis to your heel, however it often includes the foot as well)

_Bein_ is etymologically akin to English _bone _(see jonquiliser's Swedish _ben_), for which I remember the obsolete German collective word _Gebein_ (= bones/skeleton).


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## spakh

In Turkish the whole limb is *'bacak'*. *'ayak'* is foot.

*"baldır"* and *"incik"* are both used for the part from knee to ankle.


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*, the common word for “leg” is _kruro_, although according to one source it technically only refers to the lower leg, that part between the knee and the foot. The other, less common word for leg is _gambo_. I believe this refers to the whole leg. The word for foot is _piedo_. The thigh (the part of the leg between the hip and the knee) is _femuro_, and the shin is tibio.


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## bb3ca201

Anns a’ Ghàidhlig / in Gaelic
“cas” is used to refer to both leg and foot.  “Tha mo chas briste” means “My leg/foot is broken”


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## MarX

Hi!

In Indonesian we also have the same word for _foot_ and _leg_. That is *kaki*.


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## OldAvatar

In Romanian, the limb is not fragmented. 
So, the entire inferior limb is *picior*, from Latin _petiolus._


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## johndot

Greetings!
 
elpoderoso is quite right. An English leg extends from hip to ankle.


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## Saluton

Anatoli said:


> In *Russian* (as in other Slavic languages), it's the same as in Finnish or Persian - one word:
> 
> нога (nog*a*), read: [nag*a*]


 
Also, to distinguish between *foot* and *leg*, we use *ступня* (stupny*a*) or *стопа* (stop*a*) for *foot*. The words are derived from the verbs *стоять* (stoy*a*t', to stand), *ступать* (stup*a*t', to step/tread). So the verbs *to step* and *to stand* look cognate to Russian ones.


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## Encolpius

interesting thread

in common Hungarian only 1 word: *láb* (leg, foot)
in common Czech only 1 word: *noha*


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