Hock
/hɒk/noun
A joint in the hind leg of a horse or other quadruped; also, in some dialects, to pawn or pledge.
Did you know?The pawnshop sense of hock is a separate borrowing from Germanic and has no connection to the horse’s hock, even though both ended up sounding like the same little trap-door word.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*hukkô / *hukkōn
“A bend, hook, or projecting joint”
Old English
OE
hōh
“Heel, hock, or projecting bend of the leg”
Middle English
ME
hocke
“The hock joint of an animal”
16th-17th Century
English
hock
“The hind-leg joint of a horse or other quadruped”
17th Century
English
hock
“To pawn or pledge goods for money”