Parts of a Foot – Names From Heel to Toe

All 17 parts on the diagram

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From the inner side 4

Heel Built on the calcaneus, the foot's largest bone.
Ankle Three bones meet here: the tibia, the fibula and the talus.
Arch The higher of two lengthwise arches; the outer one is low.
Achilles tendon The thickest tendon in the body; it joins calf muscles to heel.

From above 9

Big toe (hallux) Has two toe bones; the other toes usually have three.
Little toe Also called the baby toe, pinky toe or fifth toe.
Toenail Made of keratin. Grows about half as fast as a fingernail.
Top of the foot (dorsum) Its arched part, between the ankle and the toes, is the instep.
Second toe Longer than the big toe on some feet, an inherited trait.
Third toe Also called the middle toe: two toes lie on each side.
Fourth toe Sometimes called the ring toe. It has three toe bones.
Inner ankle bump (medial malleolus) Lower end of the tibia; sits higher than the outer bump.
Outer ankle bump (lateral malleolus) Lower end of the fibula; reaches lower than the inner bump.

From below: the sole 4

Sole Hairless, with the thickest skin on the body and many sweat pores.
Ball of the foot The padded part under the heads of the metatarsal bones.
Inner edge of the foot In anatomy this is the medial side of the foot.
Outer edge of the foot In anatomy this is the lateral side of the foot.

How this list was compiled: The list of 17 parts is our own. Names and facts: the Wikipedia articles Foot, Heel, Sole (foot), Ball (foot), Arches of the foot, Toe, Ankle, Malleolus, Achilles tendon, Nail (anatomy) and List of human anatomical regions, starting from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot; Wiktionary for instep and hallux, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/instep and https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hallux; and Gray's Anatomy, 1918 edition (public domain), Surface Anatomy of the Lower Extremity, https://theodora.com/anatomy/surface_anatomy_of_the_lower_extremity.html. All read 2026-09-20. The wording of every line is our own. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-05 from the usual proportions of an adult foot: one bare foot from the inner side (mirrored, so its heel is on the left like the other two views), from above and from below, the sole being the outline of the view from above turned over. The profile of the heel, arch and big toe and the run of the toes on the sole were checked by eye against two public domain plates of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body (20th US edition, 1918), fig. 442 and fig. 443, drawn by Henry Vandyke Carter (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray442.png and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray443.png). The plates are dissections, so nothing was traced or copied. Licence: own work

How it works

Every name here is for a part you can see or feel from outside: no bones and no muscles. The everyday word comes first, and the anatomy term, such as hallux for the big toe, also counts when you type it.

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Three views of one foot

The same foot is drawn from the inner side, from above and from below, always with the heel on the left. The side view carries 4 rings, the view from above 9 and the sole 4. A part that shows in more than one view, such as the heel, lights up in each.

Everyday words first

Numbers 1 to 12 are everyday words, from heel (1) to fourth toe (12). Numbers 13 to 17 are harder: the Achilles tendon, the inner and outer ankle bumps, and the inner and outer edges. Print blank gives all three views with rings numbered 1 to 17 and an answer line for each. Print labelled fills the names in.

Malleolus, the anatomy word for an ankle bump, is Latin for small hammer.
Plantar means of the sole, and dorsal means of the top of the foot, the dorsum.
The Achilles tendon was named in 1693 after the Greek hero Achilles.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a foot called?

Underneath: the heel, the arch, the ball of the foot and the sole. On top: the top of the foot and five toes, each with a toenail. At the back: the ankle, its inner and outer bumps, and the Achilles tendon.

Where is the instep of the foot?

The instep is the arched top of the foot from toes to ankle. On this drawing it belongs to number 9, Top of the foot, and typing instep counts as a right answer there.

What is the ball of the foot?

The padded part of the sole between the toes and the arch. It lies underneath the heads of the metatarsal bones, the five long bones that lead to the toes.

What are the five toes called?

From the inner side out: the big toe or hallux, the second, third and fourth toes, and the little toe. Some people say index toe, middle toe and ring toe for the three in between, and pinky toe or baby toe for the fifth.

Is it parts of a foot or parts of a feet?

Parts of a foot. Foot is one and feet is two or more, so English says a foot and the feet. Both feet have the same parts: a heel, an arch and five toes each.