Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

knee

/ni/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.33 in modern English

Syllables
knee
IPA
/ni/
8
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.

noun

In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in humans.

noun

In birds:

noun

In birds:

noun

The part of a garment that covers the knee.

noun

A piece of timber or metal formed with an angle somewhat in the shape of the human knee when bent.

noun

An act of kneeling, especially to show respect or courtesy.

Archaic

noun

Any knee-shaped item or sharp angle in a line; an inflection point.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéw-der. Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéwom Proto-Germanic *knewą Proto-West Germanic *kneu Old English cnēo Middle English kne English knee Inherited from Middle English kne, from Old English cnēow, from Proto-West Germanic *kneu, from Proto-Germanic *knewą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéw-o-m, a thematic derivative of *ǵónu. See also West Frisian knibbel, Low German Knee, Knie, Dutch knie, German Knie, Danish knæ, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk kne, Swedish knä; also Hittite 𒄀𒉡 (genu), Latin genū, Tocharian A kanweṃ (dual), Tocharian B kenī, Ancient Greek γόνυ (gónu, “knee”), γωνία (gōnía, “corner, angle”), Welsh glin (“knee”), Old Armenian ծունր (cunr), Avestan 𐬲𐬥𐬎𐬨 (žnum), Sanskrit जानु (jā́nu). The obsolete plural kneen is from Middle English kneen, knen, kneon, kneuwene.

Origin

Word Breakdown

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ni/
  • British English: /niː/

Usage

Inflected Forms

knees (plural) kneen (dialectal, obsolete) knees (present, singular) kneeing (participle, present) kneed (participle, past) kneed (past)

Derived Forms

aknee kneeband kneebar kneeboard kneebound kneebuckle kneecap kneeful kneegrow kneehole kneejerk kneejoint

Phrases

beach thick-knee bend the knee bring to one's knees bush thick-knee cypress knee down on one's knees drop-knee Eurasian thick-knee

Frequently Paired Words

lap

Synonyms

stifle knee joint human knee articulatio genus genu

Homonyms

nee ni

Rhymes With

be he we me she see three free de tv key sea

Questions

How do you pronounce knee?
The recorded pronunciation is /ni/.
What does knee mean?
In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.
Where does knee come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce knee

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “knee”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ni/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “knee”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “knee” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.