crook of the arm/elbow, leg/knee (2025)

Hi there!
What exactly do you call the part of your arm/leg on the opposite side from the elbow/knee, respectively?

a) crook of the arm or crook of the elbow?
b) crook of the leg or crook of the knee?

google ngrams is not much help here, it gives roughly the same result for both crook of the elbow/arm and crook of the knee/leg.

Thanks!

Hi. There is a thread on this: space behind the knee [name?]

By the way, it's "crook of the arm" and not "crook in the arm" as the OP in that thread says.

suzi br said:

I call the inside of my elbow the crook of my arm. I cannot think I've ever need to say anthing about that equivalent part on my leg. I think I'd just call it the back of my knee.

Click to expand...

I agree with suzi. In BE at least we don't talk about "the crook of the knee/leg". We sometimes talk about carrying something (like cradling a baby) "in the crook of my arm", or to have something hanging "from the crook of my arm". You can't do that with the knee, so there would be no use even for such a term.

Dansky said:

"Inside of my elbow", that's what I was trying to think of. (Or was it "the inside of my arm"?)

Click to expand...

I think the inside of the arm probably extends a little further than the area immediately inside the elbow. Some also refer to it as the pit of the elbow.

velisarius said:

I agree with suzi. In BE at least we don't talk about "the crook of the knee/leg". We sometimes talk about carrying something (like cradling a baby) "in the crook of my arm", or to have something hanging "from the crook of my arm". You can't do that with the knee, so there would be no use even for such a term.

Click to expand...

Yes, I think this is the point, the word crook is related to the word HOOK in a functional sense, like something a shepherd uses, so we seem to turn to the word when we are using that bit of our arm to DO something.

I am pretty sure the word "pit" in this context is more of a joke than a word you should use in a formal context.

Suzi, the word 'pit' doesn't appear to be a joke according to this website:

The most prominent features of the elbow is the protrusion at the back (posterior) which is formed by the olecranon process of the ulnar and the pit of the elbow in the front (anterior) known as the cubital fossa.

You little ripper! said:

Suzi, the word 'pit' doesn't appear to be a joke according to this website:

The most prominent features of the elbow is the protrusion at the back (posterior) which is formed by the olecranon process of the ulnar and the pit of the elbow in the front (anterior) known as the cubital fossa.

Click to expand...

In-very-deed! I have never seen it used in a serious context. But then, how often do any of us need to talk about this bit of our bodies?

Although I agree about current usage, it might be worth pointing out that the original meaning of "ham" was

That part of the leg at the back of the knee; the hollow or bend of the knee.

Click to expand...

The word came into Old English from a High German word for the angle of the knee, itself from an old Germanic prefix meaning "angled".
(Source: OED 3rd Edition)
That linked Wiktionary entry claims

(anatomy) The region back of the knee joint; the popliteal space; the hock

Click to expand...

The late Dr Menzies, who was my anatomy instructor, would start turning in his grave were he to see that claim that it is an anatomical word.