יָרֵךְ, constr. יֶרֶךְ f. (b. h.; cmp. ארך) [length-side,]
יָרֵךְ, haunch, thigh, i.e. “the thick and fleshy member which commences at the bottom of the spine and extends to the lower leg (שׁוֹק)” (Ges. H. Dict. s. v.). Ḥull. VII, 1 נוהג בי׳ של ימין applies to the right leg. Ib. 2 שולח אדם י׳ וכ׳ one may send to a gentile a haunch with the nervus ischiadicus (v. גִּיד) in it. Sot. 11ᵇ; Ex. R. s. 1 י׳ מכאן וי׳ מכאן וכ׳ a leg on one side, and a leg on the other, and the potter’s mould between; a. fr.—Y. Pes. VII, beg. 34ᵃ כיָרֵיךְ עבה עבד וכ׳ R. J … wants the Passover lamb roasted like a thick (stuffed) thigh.—יוצאי י׳ descendants. B. Bath. VIII, 2 כל יוצאי יְרֵיכוֹ של בן וכ׳ all direct descendants of the (deceased) son (male heir) have the precedence to the daughter (the decedent’s sister); a. fr.—Du.יְרֵכַיִם. Tosef. Ohol. III, 4, sq.—Pl. יְרֵיכוֹת. Sot. l. c.; Ex. R. l. c. (expl. אָבְנַיִם, Ex. I, 16) בשעה … יְרֵכיֹתֶיהָ … כאבנים when a woman is about to give birth, her thighs grow cold like stones.
יָרֵךְ, side. Gen. R. s. 69, v. חָדד. Meg. 13ᵃ אין אשה … בי׳ של חבירתה a woman is made jealous only by the side of another woman (rival).
יָרֵךְ, the perpendicular stroke of a letter, leg. Y. Meg. I, 71ᶜ top יְרֵיכוֹ של ה"א the leg (stroke on the left side) of the He; ib. י׳ קטנה a small indication of it. Ib. אם גורדו … י׳ קטנה if he erases the (blotted letter Gimmel) and there remains a slight leg (indication of the vertical stroke connecting the head of the Gimmel with its foot).—Pl. as ab. Gitt. 20ᵃ, v. חָקַק. Sabb. 138ᵇ כירה … אחת מִיְּרֵכוֹתֶיהָ a portable stove one of whose legs is off.
