Oh wow. I take my comment back. Never seen “Zehe” used for toe.
“Zehe” leitet sich vom althochdeutschen “zēha” ab, das ursprünglich “Zweig” oder “Spross” bedeutete. Im Laufe der Zeit wurde es auf die einzelnen Segmente von Pflanzen wie Knoblauch oder Zwiebeln übertragen.
Well, you did have me questioning my life choices, because I would’ve also intuitively called the foot appendage “der Zeh”, but a clove of garlic “die Knoblauchzehe”.
But yeah, apparently both “der Zeh” und “die Zehe” are valid singular forms for “Zehen”. 🫠
Hmm, this disagrees with you: https://www.dwds.de/wb/Zehe
Oh wow. I take my comment back. Never seen “Zehe” used for toe.
Could be the same origin then.
Well, you did have me questioning my life choices, because I would’ve also intuitively called the foot appendage “der Zeh”, but a clove of garlic “die Knoblauchzehe”.
But yeah, apparently both “der Zeh” und “die Zehe” are valid singular forms for “Zehen”. 🫠