Many words have two meanings, sometimes more, which are often very different. Such words have identical spelling and pronunciation, they are known as homonyms. Here I continue an A to Z list of such words and look at how that word came to have two different meanings.
H is for heel, obviously the part of the foot is by far the most common use. It comes from Old English
hela, Proto-Germanic
hanhilon, and Proto-Indo-European
kenk which not only referred to the bend of the heel but also the bend at the knee.
Heel is also used to refer to a contemptible individual. It is first seen in US underworld slang in 1914, probably because it referred to one of the lowest standing. Similarly, the phrase 'down at heel' refers to well-worn footwear. Also, there is the now lost term of
fighten with heles literally to 'fight with heels' and referring to fleeing the confrontation.
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