From Middle English fot, fote, foot, from Old English fōt, from Proto-West Germanic *fōt, from Proto-Germanic *fōts, from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds.

• enPR: fo͝ot, IPA: /fʊt/, [fʊt]
  • (America) IPA: [fʊt̚]
  • (England, Wales) IPA: [fʊt̚], [fʊtʰ], [fɵʔt]
  • (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA: [fʉt]
  • (Canada) IPA: [fʊt̚], [fɤ̈t̚], [fʷʊt̚], [fɯ̽t̚]
  • (Cape Flats; Indian South African) IPA: [fɤt]
  • (Estuary) IPA: [fʉ̞ʔt]

foot (plural feet)

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. (anatomy) Specifically, a human foot, which is found below the ankle and is used for standing and walking.

   Southern Italy is shaped like a foot.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Revelation 1:17 ↗:

     And when I ſawe him, I fell at his feete as dead : and hee laid his right hand vpon me, ſaying vnto mee, Feare not, *I am the firſt,and the laſt.

3. (often used attributively) 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.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter XX, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗:

     No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.

   The flag pole at the local high school is about 20 feet high.

   1. (informal) Ellipsis of square foot A unit of area.
   2. (informal) Ellipsis of cubic foot A unit of volume.
9. (music) A unit of measure for organ pipes equal to the wavelength of two octaves above middle C, approximately 328 mm.
10. (collective, military) Foot soldiers; infantry.

    King John went to battle with ten thousand foot and one thousand horse.

    • 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 at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC ↗:

      His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.

11. (cigars) The end of a cigar which is lit, and usually cut before lighting.
12. (sewing) The part of a sewing machine which presses downward on the fabric, and may also serve to move it forward.
13. (printing) The bottommost part of a typed or printed page.
14. (printing) The base of a piece of type, forming the sides of the groove.
15. (prosody) The basic measure of rhythm in a poem.
16. (phonology) 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.
17. (nautical) 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.

18. (billiards) The end of a billiard or pool table behind the foot point where the balls are racked.
19. (botany) In a bryophyte, that portion of a sporophyte which remains embedded within and attached to the parent gametophyte plant.
    • 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:

      (b) sporophyte with foot reduced, the entire sporophyte enveloped by the calyptra, which is ± stipitate at the base.

20. (malacology) The muscular part of a bivalve mollusc or a gastropod by which it moves or holds its position on a surface.
21. (molecular biology) The globular lower domain of a protein.
22. (geometry) The point of intersection of one line with another that is perpendicular to it.
23. Fundamental principle; basis; plan.
    • 1732, George Berkeley, “The Sixth Dialogue”, in Alciphron: Or, The Minute Philosopher. […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC ↗, section XXXI, page 121 ↗:

      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.

24. Recognized condition; rank; footing.
    • May 20, 1742, Horace Walpole, letter to Horace Mann

      As to his being on the foot of a servant.

• pes

• French: pied
• German: Fuß, Fuss (Switzerland)
• Italian: piede
• Portuguese: pé
• Russian: нога́
• Spanish: pie, pata (colloquial), pinrel (slang), queso (slang), taba (uruguay)

• French: patte, pied
• German: Pfote
• Italian: zampa
• Portuguese: pata
• Russian: нога́
• Spanish: pata

• French: pied
• German: Fuß
• Italian: fondo, pié pagina
• Portuguese: pé
• Russian: низ
• Spanish: pie

• French: pied
• Portuguese: pé

• French: pied
• German: Fuß
• Italian: piede
• Portuguese: pé
• Russian: фут
• Spanish: pie

foot (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.
   • 1836, Joanna Baillie, The Phantom, Act 1 (Dramas 2, p.217)

     There's time enough, I hope, To foot a measure with the bonnie bride,

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗, book The Wife of Bath's Tale:

     He saw a Quire of Ladies in a round,
     That featly footing seem'd to skim the Ground

4. To walk.
   • c. 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] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene i]:

     thieves do foot by night

5. (now, rare) To set foot on; to walk on.
6. (obsolete) To set on foot; to establish; to land.
   • 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, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene vii]:

     What confederacy have you with the traitors / Late footed in the kingdom?

7. To renew the foot of (a stocking, etc.).
   • 19th century, William Shakespeare, Henry the Fourth Part 1 (modern edited version)

     I'll sew nether stocks and mend them and foot them too

8. To sum up, as the numbers in a column; sometimes with up.

   to foot (or foot up) an account

• French: donner un coup de pied
• Portuguese: chutar
• Russian: пинать

• French: payer
• German: bezahlen
• Italian: pagare
• Portuguese: pagar

1. Surname.

   Michael Foot (1913–2010) was a British politician.