"K" Word Origins

knitting

Origin

From knit plus -ing.

knitwork

Origin

From knit + work.

knob

Middle English

From Middle English knobbe, related to Middle Low German knobbe ("knob, bud"), part of a wider family of Germanic words for lumps and bumps.

knobber

Origin

From knob + -er; the deer sense derives from the fact that a young buck's antlers begin diminutively as mere knobs; the fool sense derives indirectly from a reference to the penis; the two senses are ultimately cognate.

knobhead

Origin

From knob + head, on the same pattern as similar crude insults.

knock

Old English

From Old English cnocian, "to knock, pound, or beat," an ancient Germanic word related to knuckle.

knock-knock joke

English

Named after its opening line, imitating the sound of knocking at a door.

knockabout

Origin

Deverbal from knock about.

knocker

Origin

From knock plus the agent-forming ending -er.

knockers

Origin · 1940

From knock plus -er, in use with this slang meaning since around the 1940s.

knockoff

Origin

A noun formed from the phrasal verb "knock off," in the sense of quickly copying something.

knockout

Origin

A noun/adjective formed from the phrasal verb "knock out."

knoll

Old English

From Old English cnoll, "summit," related to a Germanic root meaning "lump."

knollys

Origin

Topographic surname for someone who lived at the top of a hill, from a genitive or plural form of Middle English knoll (“hilltop, hillock”).

knot

Old English

From Old English cnotta, "knot," from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to bind."

knothead

Origin

From knot + head.

knotted

Middle English

From Middle English knotted, iknotted, from the past participle of the verb knotten.

knottiness

Origin

From Middle English knottynesse, equivalent to knotty + -ness.

knotty

Origin

From Middle English knotti, knotty (“having a knot in it; full of knots; tied together (?); resembling a knot, knotlike; having knobs or protuberances; bulging, convex; of a tree, branch, etc.: full of knots, gnarled; of a plant cutting to be grafted or planted: full of buds or eyes; having joints (?); having swollen joints; of flesh: glandular; of flesh: granular, lumpy, especially, having many swellings; mangy, scurfy (?); having pimples (?); of cauterization: carried out on glandular tissue; (figuratively) of a question or problem: difficult, intricate”) [and other forms], from knotte (“knot; pattern of intersecting lines; coil of a snake”) (from Old English cnotta (“knot”), from Proto-Germanic *knuttô (“knot”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gned- (“to bind”)) + -i (suffix forming adjectives from nouns). The English word may be analysed as knot + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’). Cognates * Dutch knoestig (“knotty”) * German knotig (“knotty”) * Swedish knotig, knutig (“knotty”)

knout

Origin

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.

know

Latin

From Old English cnāwan, "to perceive or recognize," from a very old root shared with Latin (g)noscere and Greek gignṓskein — both meaning "to know."

knowbie

Origin

From know + -bie, patterned after newbie, with know replacing new to suggest knowledge.

knowing

Origin

From know plus -ing.

knowingly

Origin

From knowing plus -ly.

knowledge

Middle English

From Middle English knowleche, built from know plus an old suffix meaning roughly "practice" or "action."

knowledgeable

Origin

From knowledge plus -able.

knowledgeful

Origin

From knowledge + -ful (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, with the sense of being full of, tending to, or thoroughly possessing the quality expressed by the noun).

Knowles

Middle English

Topographic surname for someone who lived at the top of a hill, from a genitive or plural form of Middle English knol (“hilltop, hillock”).

known

Old English

The past participle of "know," from Old English cnāwan, ultimately from a very old root meaning "to recognize" that also gave us "notice" and "note" in other languages.

knowsome

Origin

From know + -some.

Knox

Origin

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic cnoc (“round hill”).

knuckle

Old English

From Old English cnucel, "the joint between two bones," closely related to the word knock.

knuckleball

Origin

From knuckle + ball.

knucklehead

Origin

From knuckle + head, on the model of similar informal insults.

knuckleheaded

Origin

From knuckle + headed.

knut

Origin · 1900

A slang alteration of "nut" (an eccentric or foppish person), popular in early 20th-century Britain.

ko

Japanese

The Go sense is borrowed from the Japanese word 劫 (kō); the "knock out" verb comes from the abbreviation K.O.

koala

Origin

From an Aboriginal Australian word (Dharug "gula"), possibly meaning "no water" — koalas get nearly all their moisture from leaves.

Kobayashi

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 小林 (Kobayashi).

Kobe

Japanese

The city name comes from Japanese 神戸 (Kōbe); the interjection is a tribute to basketball star Kobe Bryant.

kobold

Origin

Borrowed from German Kobold. Doublet of cobalt.

kocay

Origin

From Middle English cokei (“stream; drain, gutter”).

Koch

German

Borrowed from German Koch (“cook”), an occupational surname. Doublet of Cook and Kok.

Kochi

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 高(こう)知(ち) (Kōchi).

koda

Origin

From regional South Asian names for the millet crop, also lending its name to the unrelated tree species.

kodak

Origin

From Kodak, the trademarked brand name of the camera and film company, which became a generic term through everyday use.

Kodiak

Origin

Named after Kodiak Island, Alaska, itself from the Alutiiq word for the island.

kody

Origin

Modern spelling variant of Cody.