Akimbo is a human body position in which the hands are on the hips and the elbow are bowed outward, or bent/bowed in a more general sense (e.g. "the sailor sat with his legs akimbo"). Origins The word's origins are murky. The term originated from the English around 1400 in The Tale of Beryn: "The hoost ... set his hond in kenebowe." In the 17th century, the word was spelled on kenbow, a kenbow, a kenbol, a kenbold, or on kimbow. The forms akembo and akimbo are found in the 18th century, with akimbo gradually becoming the standard. One suggestion is that it comes from the Icelandic word keng-boginn, "crooked", but there is no evidence that keng-boginn ever meant anything other than "crooked", or that akimbo ever meant simply "crooked". Also, if this theory of the origin of akimbo is correct, there should be an earlier Engl

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