Word.ws English Dictionary

foot

/fʊt/[fʊt̚]

foot noun: a biological structure found in many animals that is used for locomotion and that is frequently a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg. Also the ellipsis of square foot.

foot: a biological structure found in many animals that is used for locomotion and that is frequently a...
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

foot (plural feet or (unit of measure, UK colloquial) foot)

  1. A biological structure found in many animals that is used for locomotion and that is frequently a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg.
    • A spider has eight feet.
  2. Specifically, a human foot, which is found below the ankle and is used for standing and walking.
    • Southern Italy is shaped like a foot.
    • The wave knocked me off my feet.
  3. (attributive, often) Travel by walking.
    • We went there by foot because we could not afford a taxi.
    • There is a lot of foot traffic on this street.
  4. The base or bottom of anything.
    • I'll meet you at the foot of the stairs.
  5. The part of a flat surface on which the feet customarily rest.
    • We came and stood at the foot of the bed.
  6. The end of a rectangular table opposite the head.
    • The host should sit at the foot of the table.
  7. A short foot-like projection on the bottom of an object to support it.
    • The feet of the stove hold it a safe distance above the floor.
  8. A unit of measure equal to twelve inches or one third of a yard, equal to exactly 30.48 centimetres.
    • The flag pole, which is 20 feet high, was hoisted by a six-foot tall man.
    • My sis's just over six foot two.
  9. A unit of measure for organ pipes equal to the wavelength of two octaves above middle C, approximately 328 mm.
  10. (collective) Foot soldiers; infantry.
    • King John went to battle with ten thousand foot and one thousand horse.
    • His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed...
  11. The end of a cigar which is lit, and usually cut before lighting.
    • He removes a gold lighter from his pocket, flips it open, and waves the flame over the foot, taking short, sucking pulls off the head till it’s lit.2022, Jonathan Escoffery, If I Survive You, 4th Estate (2023), page 128
  12. The part of a sewing machine which presses downward on the fabric, and may also serve to move it forward.
Show 12 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. The bottommost part of a typed or printed page.
  2. The base of a piece of type, forming the sides of the groove.
  3. The basic measure of rhythm in a poem.
  4. The parsing of syllables into prosodic constituents, which are used to determine the placement of stress in languages along with the notions of constituent heads.
  5. The bottom edge of a sail.
    • To make the mainsail fuller in shape, the outhaul is eased to reduce the tension on the foot of the sail.
    • Flutter is when the leech or foot of a sail is vibrating from the wind2021, Mike Westin, Olle Landsell, Nina Olofsson, Par Olofsson, Seamanship 2.0, Bloomsbury Publishing
  6. The end of a billiard or pool table behind the foot point where the balls are racked.
  7. In a bryophyte, that portion of a sporophyte which remains embedded within and attached to the parent gametophyte plant.
    • (b) sporophyte with foot reduced, the entire sporophyte enveloped by the calyptra, which is ± stipitate at the base.1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 4
  8. The muscular part of a bivalve mollusc or a gastropod by which it moves or holds its position on a surface.
  9. (molecular biology) The globular lower domain of a protein.
  10. The point of intersection of one line with another that is perpendicular to it.
  11. Fundamental principle; basis; plan.
    • To conſider the vvhole of the Subject, to read and think on all ſides, to object plainly, and anſvver directly, upon the foot of dry Reaſon and Argument, vvou'd be a very tedious and troubleſome Affair.1732, George Berkeley, “The Sixth Dialogue”, in Alciphron: Or, The Minute Philosopher. […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC, section XXXI, page 121
  12. Recognized condition; rank; footing.
    • May 20, 1742, Horace Walpole, letter to Horace Mann
      As to his being on the foot of a servant.

Verb

foot (third-person singular simple present foots, present participle footing, simple past and past participle footed)

  1. (transitive) To use the foot to kick (usually a ball).
  2. (transitive) To pay (a bill).
  3. To tread to measure of music; to dance; to trip; to skip.
    • There's time enough, I hope, To foot a measure with the bonnie bride,1836, Joanna Baillie, The Phantom, Act 1 (Dramas 2, p.217)
    • He saw a Quire of Ladies in a round,
      That featly footing seem'd to skim the Ground1700, [John] Dryden, Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, book The Wife of Bath's Tale
  4. To walk.
    • thieves do foot by nightc. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  5. (archaic) To set foot on; to walk on.
    • […] Or shepherd-boy, they featly foot the green1722, Thomas Tickell, Kensington Gardens
    • People who would not have dared to foot the place before crept in and did not come to the house.1937, Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Amistad, published 2013, page 84
  6. (obsolete) To set on foot; to establish; to land.
    • What confederacy have you with the traitors / Late footed in the kingdom?c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  7. To renew the foot of (a stocking, etc.).
    • I'll sew nether stocks and mend them and foot them too19th century, William Shakespeare, Henry the Fourth Part 1 (modern edited version)
  8. To sum up, as the numbers in a column; sometimes with up.
    • to foot (or foot up) an account
  9. (Ireland, transitive) To spread out and stack up (turf sods) to allow them to dry.

Proper noun capitalized: Foot

Foot

  1. A surname.
    • Michael Foot (1913–2010) was a British politician.

Also used as

foot is also the ellipsis of square foot.

foot is also the ellipsis of cubic foot.

foot meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

foot in Hindi

part of human body
पैर pair, पांव pāmv
part of animal’s body
पैर pair
unit of measure
फ़ुट fuṭ
bottom of anything
पाया pāyā

foot in Tamil

கால், பாதம்

foot in Marathi

part of human body
पाय pāya

foot in Urdu

part of human body
پَاؤُں pāū̃, پَیر pair
part of animal’s body
پیر pair
unit of measure
فٹ
More languagesFewer languages
foot in Bengali
ফুট phuṭ, পা pa
foot in Telugu
పాదము pādamu, అడుగు aḍugu
foot in Malayalam
പാദം pādaṁ, അടി aṭi, ചുവട് cuvaṭŭ
foot in Kannada
ಪಾದ pāda, ಅಡಿ aḍi
foot in Punjabi
ਪੈਰ pair
foot in Odia
ପଦ pada
foot in Sanskrit
पद् pád
foot in Nepali
खुट्टाको
foot in Tagalog
paa, talampakan, paanan
foot in Arabic
رِجْل rijl, قَدَم qadam, قدم ʕadam, qadam, رجل regl
foot in Malay
kaki
foot in Indonesian
kaki
foot in Persian
پا pâ, پایِه pâye, فوت fut, فیت fit
foot in Thai
เท้า táao, ตีน dtiin, ฟุต fút
foot in Vietnamese
bàn chân, chân, foot, bộ
foot in Myanmar
ခြေ hkre, ပေ pe

Examples of foot in a sentence

  • I only opened the door a foot and put my head in.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter XX, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
  • In those days it happened that a regiment of foot was proceeding from Dublin to Cork.1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 536:

All 40 example sentences with foot

Synonyms of foot

Forms of foot

Noun
pluralfeet
plural UK error-unknown-tag (colloquial)foot
alternative form (obsolete)foote
alternative form (dialectal)feets
alternative form (nonstandard)foots
Verb
third-person singular presentfoots
present participlefooting
past participlefooted
pastfooted
Proper noun
alternative formFoote

Past tense of foot: footed

Plural of foot: feet

Origin of foot

From Middle English fot, fote, foot, from Old English fōt, from Proto-West Germanic *fōt, from Proto-Germanic *fōts, from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds. Doublet of pes, pie (“Spanish unit of length”), and pous. Cognates *Scots fit (“foot”) *Yola voote (“foot”) *North Frisian fut, fötj (“foot”) *Saterland Frisian Fout (“foot”) *West Frisian foet (“foot”) *Cimbrian buus, vuaz, vuus (“foot”) *Dutch voet (“foot”) *Dutch Low Saxon voot (“foot”) *German Fuß, Fuss (“foot”) *German Low German Faut, Foot (“foot”) *Gottscheerish vúəs (“foot”) *Luxembourgish Fouss (“foot”) *Mòcheno vuas (“foot”) *Vilamovian füs (“foot”) *Yiddish פֿוס (fus, “foot”) *Danish fod (“foot”) *Faroese and Icelandic fótur (“foot”) *Jamtish fót (“foot”) *Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fot (“foot”) *Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐍄𐌿𐍃 (fōtus, “foot”).

Words formed from foot

Phrases with foot

169 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with foot

Questions about foot

What does foot mean?
Foot means a biological structure found in many animals that is used for locomotion and that is frequently a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg.
What is foot in Hindi?
Foot in Hindi is पैर (pair), पांव (pāmv), फ़ुट (fuṭ). See Foot meaning in Hindi.
How do you use foot in a sentence?
I only opened the door a foot and put my head in.
What part of speech is foot?
Foot can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce foot?
Foot is pronounced /fʊt/.
What is the plural of foot?
The plural of foot is feet.

Words near foot in the dictionary

  1. foosthered
  2. foostherer
  3. foostherers
  4. foosthering
  5. foosthers
  6. foot
  7. foot and mouth
  8. foot ball
  9. foot balls
  10. foot bath
  11. foot baths

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: foot (page history and authors); Foot (page history and authors); foot (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); foot (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-foot.ogg, en-uk-foot.ogg.

Cite this entry: “foot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/foot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.