knife
/ˈnaɪ̯f/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.41 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge, attached to a handle. The blade may be pointed for piercing.
noun
A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing or stabbing but too short to be called a sword; a dagger.
Example Sentences
- "He was looking for a knife to chop some steak."
- "Jeff was bent low over the backboard, working with the knife, a steady sawing motion, his shirt soaked through with sweat."
- "She was repeatedly knifed in the chest."
- "One day his sergeant began to cane him, on which, seizing his knife, he knifed the sergeant : he knifed the privates : he knifed until he was finally overpowered, and, brought before a court-martial, was condemned to fifteen years at the galleys."
- "The plane has been hijacked. They've already knifed a guy."
- "Naw, they found him in the pissery of some gin mill near the Mohawk West terminal—he'd been knifed."
Etymology
From Middle English knyf, knif, from late Old English cnīf, from Old Norse knífr or Proto-West Germanic *knīb, from Proto-Germanic *knībaz, from *knīpaną (“to pinch”), Proto-Indo-European *gneybʰ- (compare Lithuanian gnýbti, žnýbti (“to pinch”), gnaibis (“pinching”)). Displaced native Middle English sax (“knife”), from Old English seax; and Middle English coutel, qwetyll (“knife”) from Old French coutel. * The verb is first attested in 1865. The variant knive is first attested in 1733. Cognates Cognate with Yola kunnife (“knife”), North Frisian knif (“knife”), Dutch knijf (“long pointy knife, poniard”), German Knifte (“rifle; thick slicebread”), German Low German Knief (“knife”), Luxembourgish Knäip (“paring knife”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk kniv (“knife”), Faroese knívur (“knife”), Icelandic hnífur, knífur (“knife”), Swedish knif, kniv (“knife”).
Origin
- Source language: Middle English
- First known use: first attested in 1865
Word Breakdown
- Root: knyf, cnīf, knífr, *knīb, *knībaz, *gneybʰ-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈnaɪ̯f/
- British English: /ˈnaɪ̯f/