Originally, the key was narrower and was shaped like a keyhole, measuring six feet (1.8 m) wide, hence its name "the key", with the free-throw circle as the head, and the shaded lane as the body. It has been also called "cup" or "bottle" in other languages, because of how it looks from other perspectives. Due to the narrow key, imposing centers, such as George Mikan, dominated the paint, scoring at will. To counter this, the key was widened into 12 feet (3.7 m) from at the onset of the 1951–52 NBA season.