# shackle

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈʃækl̩/ · frequency rank #49,630

## Definitions
1. A restraint fitted over a human or animal appendage, such as an ankle, finger, or wrist, normally used in a pair joined by a chain.
2. A restraint fitted over a human or animal appendage, such as an ankle, finger, or wrist, normally used in a pair joined by a chain.
3. A restraint fitted over a human or animal appendage, such as an ankle, finger, or wrist, normally used in a pair joined by a chain.
4. A restraint fitted over a human or animal appendage, such as an ankle, finger, or wrist, normally used in a pair joined by a chain.
5. A restraint fitted over a human or animal appendage, such as an ankle, finger, or wrist, normally used in a pair joined by a chain.
6. A restraint fitted over a human or animal appendage, such as an ankle, finger, or wrist, normally used in a pair joined by a chain.
7. A restraint fitted over a human or animal appendage, such as an ankle, finger, or wrist, normally used in a pair joined by a chain.
8. A restraint fitted over a human or animal appendage, such as an ankle, finger, or wrist, normally used in a pair joined by a chain.
9. A restraint on one's action, activity, or progress.
10. A length of cable or chain equal to 12½ fathoms (75 feet or about 22.9 metres), or later to 15 fathoms (90 feet or about 27.4 metres).

## Etymology
From Middle English shakel, schakkyl, schakle (“a fetter, shackle; coupling used to connect a plough or wagon to a draft chain”), from Old English sċacul, sċeacel, sċeacul (“fetter, shackle”), from Proto-West Germanic *skakul, from Proto-Germanic *skakulaz (“shackle”), possibly from *skakaną (“to shake; to swing; to escape”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeg-, *skek- (“to shake; to stir”). However, this is doubted by the Oxford English Dictionary because *skeg-, *skek- lack the meaning of attaching or fastening.
Etymology 1 sense 3 (“length of cable or chain equal to 12½ or 15 fathoms”) derives from the original distance between two shackles (etymology 1 sense 1.1.3) connecting lengths of cable or chain together.
Cognates
* Danish skagle (“carriage trace”)
* Dutch schakel (“clasp; link; shackle”)
* German Schäckel (“shackle”)
* Icelandic skökull (“carriage pole”)
* Swedish skakel (“loose shaft of a carriage”)

## Easily confused with
- **shake** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shackle-vs-shake)
- **shale** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shackle-vs-shale)
- **sickle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shackle-vs-sickle)
- **sparkle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shackle-vs-sparkle)
- **shack** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shack-vs-shackle)

## Common misspellings (11)
`hsackle`, `sahckle`, `shacckle`, `shackel`, `shackkle`, `shacklle`, `shaclke`, `shakcle`, `shcakle`, `shhackle`, `sshackle`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/shackle