wide-legged
Meaning
(of a pair of trousers, shorts, or a stance) having the legs far apart at the bottom or cut with a very full shape.
Structure
Usage
She wore a pair of comfortable, wide-legged trousers to the office.
The tailor specializes in altering wide-legged jeans to fit perfectly.
He stood in a wide-legged stance, bracing himself against the strong wind.
Etymology
The compound adjective "wide-legged" is a transparent modern English formation. It combines the native English adjective "wide," with its ancient Proto-Germanic root wīdaz meaning "far and broad," and the noun "leg," from Old Norse, to create a descriptive term. The suffix "-ed" is appended to the noun "leg," a productive pattern in English for forming adjectives from nouns (e.g., "long-haired," "blue-eyed"). The literal, compositional meaning "having legs that are wide" directly describes the characteristic shape of garments or a physical posture, showing how English readily builds new, specific descriptors from its core Germanic vocabulary.
Analysis
- wide: From Old English wīd (spacious, broad). An adjective describing a large extent from side to side. - leg: From Old Norse leggr (limb, leg of the body). A noun referring to a limb used for support and movement. - ed: From Old English -ede, an adjectival suffix used to form compound adjectives meaning "having, provided with, characterized by."