What does bowleg mean?
A bowleg is a leg that bows outward at the knee, so that even when the ankles are placed together the knees remain apart — the opposite alignment to knock-knees. Medically known as genu varum, the condition is common and usually harmless in toddlers, whose legs naturally curve before straightening as they grow, but persistent bowing in older children or adults can signal rickets, Blount's disease, or other skeletal issues. Beyond medicine, the word carries strong cultural associations: centuries of riding horses have made bowed legs a stock image of cowboys and cavalrymen, giving rise to the familiar rolling, wide-stanced gait of the frontier rider. The related adjective 'bowlegged' describes a person who has such legs, and both terms are standard in British and American English, used neutrally in clinical writing and colloquially elsewhere.
nounA leg that curves outward at the knee so the feet are closer together than the knees; the condition of having such legs (genu varum). More often used in the plural, 'bowlegs'.
- A leg curved outward at the knee (genu varum), or the condition of having such legs.
"Decades in the saddle had given the old rancher a pronounced pair of bowlegs."
"The toddler's mild bowlegs worried his mother, though pediatricians assured her they were normal at that age."
"He walked with a rolling gait, his bowlegs a souvenir of thirty years spent on horseback."
The plural is the more frequent form in everyday use, since the condition affects both legs.
"His bowlegs made his walk instantly recognizable from across the street."
The classic cowboy swagger owes its shape to 'bowlegs' — years astride a horse can literally bend a rider's stance.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bowleg
The word is a straightforward English compound of 'bow', meaning to bend or curve, and 'leg', first recorded in the seventeenth century to describe legs shaped like an archer's bow. Its medical counterpart, 'genu varum', comes from Latin: 'genu' meaning knee and 'varus' meaning bent or turned inward. The compound formation reflects plain English descriptive naming rather than borrowing, which is why it has no true cognates beyond the ordinary words that compose it.
Related word forms
How bowleg is actually used
Usually appears in the plural ('bowlegs') when referring to a person's legs, while the singular or unmarked form is common in medical contexts. The term is descriptive rather than pejorative, but care should be taken when describing people.
Easily confused with bowleg
'Bowleg' is the noun naming the leg or the condition itself, while 'bowlegged' is the adjective describing someone who has it.