Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

knout

/naʊt/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.12 in modern English

Syllables: knout
IPA: /naʊt/

9

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

1

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A leather scourge (multi-tail whip), in the severe version known as 'great knout' with metal weights on each tongue, notoriously used in imperial Russia.

verb

To flog or beat with a knout.

Example Sentences

"In Moscow, a Court carbonadoes / His ignorant serfs with the knout; / […] / But Eton has crueller terrors / Than these,—in the Windsor Express."
"Torture in a public school is as much licensed as the knout in Russia."
"“I don't suppose a Russian convict under the knout is able to amuse the rest of his gang; and all our men-folk here are gilded convicts.”"
"Spray and then slogging knouts of water hit the windows or lights like snarling disaffected at a mansion of the rich and frivolous."
"The lieutenant gave him twenty strokes of the knout and stuck him in a cage for a few days till the snow was ankle deep."
"Different, isn’t it? It’s called kava, by the way. The Fijians make it by knouting some root or other."

Etymology

Via French knout from Russian кнут (knut), from Old East Slavic кнутъ (knutŭ), from Old Norse knútr (“knot in a cord”). Doublet of knot, node, and nodus.

Origin

Source language: French

Word Breakdown

Root: knout, кнут, кнутъ, knútr

Inflected Forms

knouts (plural) knouts (present, singular) knouting (participle, present) knouted (participle, past) knouted (past)

Derived Forms

knouter

Synonyms

whip

Homonyms

nowt

Rhymes With

about out take out without set about term out throughout doubt peter out route fill out knock about

Questions

How do you pronounce knout?: The recorded pronunciation is /naʊt/.
What does knout mean?: A leather scourge (multi-tail whip), in the severe version known as 'great knout' with metal weights on each tongue, notoriously used in imperial Russia.
Where does knout come from?: It is traced to French.

How to pronounce knout

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “knout”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/naʊt/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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Repeat and practice — Say “knout” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.