the.com/hock
to pawn something, or the joint that makes a horse's leg look backwards.
means as a verb, to sell an item to a pawnbroker for quick cash; as a noun, the backward-bending joint in an animal's hind leg.
from the pawnbroking sense comes from dutch 'hok,' meaning prison or pen, via the phrase 'in hock' meaning in debt or captivity; the leg sense traces to old english 'hoh,' meaning heel.
in hockoriginally meant literally imprisoned for debt
horse anatomyhock corresponds to a human ankle, not knee
same wordtwo unrelated origins collided into one spelling
hockshopold slang for pawnbroker's storefront