Akimbo, this must be one of the odder-looking words in the language…

Akimbo, this must be one of the odder-looking words in the language and puzzles us in part because it doesn’t seem to have any relatives. What’s more, it is now virtually a fossil word, until recently almost invariably found in arms akimbo, a posture in which a person stands with hands on hips and elbows sharply bent outward, one that signals impatience, hostility or contempt.