haunch

American  

[hawnch, hahnch] / hɔntʃ, hɑntʃ /

noun

1. the hip.

2. the fleshy part of the body about the hip.

3. a hindquarter of an animal.

4. the leg and loin of an animal, used for food.

5. Architecture.

   1. either side of an arch, extending from the vertex or crown to the impost.

   2. the part of a beam projecting below a floor or roof slab.

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haunch British  

/ hɔːntʃ /

noun

1. the human hip or fleshy hindquarter of an animal, esp a horse or similar quadruped

2. the leg and loin of an animal, used for food

   a haunch of venison

3. Also called: hance.  architect the part of an arch between the impost and the apex

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Other Word Forms

• haunched adjective
• haunchless adjective

Etymology

Origin of haunch

1150–1200; Middle English haunche < Old French hanche < Germanic; compare Middle Dutch hanke haunch, hip, German Hanke haunch

Example Sentences

It’s unlikely that anyone was looking at a gray wolf tearing a chunk from a bison haunch and saying “That’d make a great dog.”

From Slate • Feb. 17, 2021

A spiral-sliced haunch of ham sheathed with fresh yellow rings is a staple of my Christmas dinner.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2019

It was bouncing around a little, but I was able to give it a shot in the haunch muscle.”

From Washington Times • Oct. 21, 2018

The lamb haunch was not at all to my taste, but, given a choice between eating it and foraging for a puffin egg, I know which I’d choose.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 11, 2018

He ran to the fencerow where he had left two pieces of bread and the cuts from a particularly tender haunch of beef that Nancy had wrapped in a white cloth for him.

From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt