Word.ws English Dictionary

haunch

UK/hɔːn(t)ʃ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/hoːn(t)ʃ/

haunch noun: the area encompassing the upper thigh, hip and buttocks on one side of a human, primate, or quadruped animal, especially one that can sit on its hindquarters.

Noun

haunch (plural haunches)

  1. The area encompassing the upper thigh, hip and buttocks on one side of a human, primate, or quadruped animal, especially one that can sit on its hindquarters.
    • But I had no time to pursue these reflections; for the gray horse came to the door, and made me a sign to follow him into the third room where I saw a very comely mare, together with a colt and foal, sitting on their haunches upon mats of straw, not unartfully made, and perfectly neat and clean.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms)
    • And the rabbit from his path-way
      Leaped aside, and at a distance
      Sat erect upon his haunches.1855 November 10, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “chapter III”, in The Song of Hiawatha, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC
  2. The loin and leg of a quadruped, especially when used as food.
    • Now these are the Laws of the Jungle, and many and mighty are they; / But the head and the hoof of the Law and the haunch and the hump is—Obey!1895 November, Rudyard Kipling, “The Law of the Jungle”, in The Second Jungle Book, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 25
    • On the rough-hewn oaken table the venison haunch was shared.a. 1892, John Greenleaf Whittier, The Garrison of Cape Ann
  3. A squat vertical support structure.
  4. (dialectal) A jerked underhand throw.

Verb

haunch (third-person singular simple present haunches, present participle haunching, simple past and past participle haunched)

  1. (transitive) To provide with a haunch or supporting structure.
  2. (dialectal, transitive) To throw with an underhand movement.

haunch meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Tagalog and Vietnamese

haunch in Tamil

சந்து, விதான இடுப்பு, இடுப்பு, நிதம்பம், கமான் அடிக்கல், கமான் அடி கல்

haunch in Urdu

کولہا, پٹھوا, سرین

haunch in Tagalog

area encompassing the upper thigh, hip and buttocks
sasapnan, balisakang

haunch in Vietnamese

area encompassing the upper thigh, hip and buttocks
vùng hông

Examples of haunch in a sentence

  • She sat back on her haunches.
  • In an instant, the creature reared back on its haunches and spurted out a gargantuan nugget!
  • The figure came up and squatted flatfooted on his haunches next to Patsy.

All 13 example sentences with haunch

Forms of haunch

Noun
pluralhaunches
alternative formhaunce
alternative formhaunse
alternative formhanch
alternative formhance
alternative formhanse
Verb
third-person singular presenthaunches
present participlehaunching
past participlehaunched
pasthaunched

Origin of haunch

From Middle English haunche, hanche, from Old French hanche, hance, anche (compare French hanche, Italian anca), from a Germanic source, probably Frankish *ankijā, from Proto-Germanic *ankijǭ (“joint; ankle”), from Proto-Indo-European *ang- (“joint; lith”). Cognate with Old High German ancha, encha, einka (“the leg; joint, bend”) (compare Old High German anchila, enchila (“ankle”), German Hanke (“haunch”), West Frisian hancke (“haunch”). More at ankle.

Words formed from haunch

Phrases with haunch

Words that rhyme with haunch

Questions about haunch

What does haunch mean?
Haunch means the area encompassing the upper thigh, hip and buttocks on one side of a human, primate, or quadruped animal, especially one that can sit on its hindquarters.
What is haunch in Tamil?
Haunch in Tamil is சந்து, விதான இடுப்பு, இடுப்பு. See Haunch meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is haunch?
Haunch can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce haunch?
Haunch is pronounced /hɔːn(t)ʃ/ (UK).
What is the plural of haunch?
The plural of haunch is haunches.

Words near haunch in the dictionary

  1. Haumurian
  2. Haun
  3. haunce
  4. haunced
  5. haunces
  6. haunch
  7. haunch bone
  8. haunch bones
  9. haunch holder
  10. haunch holders
  11. haunch-bone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: haunch (page history and authors); haunch (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); haunch (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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-au-haunch.ogg, en-us-haunch.ogg.

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