- pronunciation:
- kaef
- features:
- Word History
| part of speech: |
noun |
| inflections: |
calves |
| definition: |
A calf is the back part of a person's leg below their knee.
My dad hurt a muscle in his calf when he was playing baseball the other day. The doctor says he has to rest his leg for a while.
|
Calf1 is from an early Scandinavian word for a young cow. It came to be used for the lower leg of a person because the swelling of the calf (of the leg) looks like the calf before it has left the cow.