Heel
Old English hēla, hǣla, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hiel, also to hough.
wiktionary
From Middle English hele, from Old English hēla, from Proto-Germanic *hanhilaz (compare North Frisian hael, Dutch hiel, Danish and Norwegian hæl, Swedish häl), diminutive of Proto-Germanic *hanhaz(“heel”), equivalent to hock + -le. More at hock.
Probably inferred from the past tense of hield, from Middle English heelden, from Old English hyldan, hieldan(“to incline”), cognate with Old Norse hella(“to pour out”) (whence Danish hælde(“lean, pour”)).
See hele(“conceal, keep secret, cover”).
etymonline
heel (n.1)
"back of the foot," Old English hela, from Proto-Germanic *hanhilon (source also of Old Norse hæll, Old Frisian hel, Dutch hiel), from PIE *kenk- (3) "heel, bend of the knee" (source also of Old English hoh "hock").
Meaning "back of a shoe or boot" is c. 1400. Down at heels (1732) refers to heels of boots or shoes worn down and the owner too poor to replace them. For Achilles' heel "only vulnerable spot" see Achilles. To fight with (one's) heels (fighten with heles) in Middle English meant "to run away."
heel (n.2)
"contemptible person," 1914 in U.S. underworld slang, originally "incompetent or worthless criminal," perhaps from a sense of "person in the lowest position" and thus from heel (n.1).
heel (v.1)
of a dog, "to follow or stop at a person's heels," 1810, from heel (n.1). Also see heeled.
heel (v.2)
"to lean to one side," usually in reference to a ship, re-spelled 16c. from Middle English hield (probably by misinterpretation of -d as a past tense suffix), from Old English hieldan "incline, lean, slope," from Proto-Germanic *helthijan (source also of Middle Dutch helden "to lean," Dutch hellen, Old Norse hallr "inclined," Old High German halda, German halde "slope, declivity"). Related: Heeled; heeling.
heel (v.3)
"furnish with a heel," of a shoe, boot, etc., c.1600, from heel (n.1). Related: Heeled; heeling.
