Word Origin & History
lank
O.E. hlanc "loose and empty, slender, flaccid," from P.Gmc. *khlankaz, perhaps from a root meaning "flexible" (cf. Ger. lenken "to bend, turn aside"). Lanky was originally (1637) "straight and flat," used of hair; sense of "awkwardly tall and thin" is first recorded 1818.