hallux (English)

Where does "hallux" come from?

The word hallux traces its roots back to the Latin words allus and allex, which referred to the big toe. It likely developed into the Late Latin form hallux through a historical conflation of these terms, occasionally influenced by the Greek verb hállomai due to its initial letter. Today, this anatomical term preserves its classical Latin heritage to precisely describe the big toe in English.

Full etymology tree

• hallux (English), 'A big toe.'
  • inherited hallux (Latin), 'the big toe'
    • inherited hallus (Latin), 'big toe'
    • inherited allus (Latin)
    • inherited allex (Latin), 'the big toe'
    • influence ἅλλομαι (hállomai) (Ancient Greek), 'to leap, jump'
      • inherited *həľľomai (Proto-Hellenic), 'to leap, to jump'
        • inherited *sel- (Proto-Indo-European), 'jump, spring'

Direct ancestors

• hallux (Latin)

Updated June 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris