🦵 A curved leg 🦵 Legs curve outward

bowleg

1 7.2

A leg that curves outward at the knee so the knees stay apart when standing with feet together

noun
/ˈboʊˌlɛɡ/

: pierna arqueada

His bowlegs made it difficult for him to find pants that fit properly.

Examples

Bantry had short bowlegs, but big shoulders and longish arms.

Fiction book (1990)
I can feel it right down to these stubby bowlegs of mine.

Hercules (1997)
To their surprise, Sang Zhu's bald head emerged, and then in came his small body and bowlegs.

Fiction book (1994)
Tony stays in the corner, rocking stiffly on his bowlegs.

Fiction book (1990)
Frannie Benedetto, the cop's wife on Beach Twelfth Street, the one with the little boy with the bowlegs.

Fiction book (1999)
When standing together, his bowlegs caused his knees to stay apart.
As a child, she often felt self-conscious about her bowlegs during swim class.

Synonyms

bandy leg

vsbowleg

Archaic

1 8.8

A leg that curves outward at or below the knee

is about the legs causing the knees to stay apart when standing

bow leg

vsbowleg

7.1

Legs that curve outward below the knee so the knees stay apart when the feet are together

is the same condition but written as one word

bandyleg

vsbowleg

Archaic

9.9

A leg that bends outward below the knee so the knees are far apart

is about knees staying apart when standing with feet together rather than very wide

Surface Forms

bowleg singular

bowlegs plural

Morphology

bowleg = bow + leg (transparent) = bow + leg

The noun is a straightforward compound of 'bow' + 'leg', so the meaning is directly inferable from its parts.

Etymology

Bowleg comes from the simple image bow + leg, with bow meaning a 'curved' shape like the weapon used to shoot arrows. So a bowleg as a noun is 'a leg that curves outward', which explains why the knees stay apart when a person stands with their feet together.