knife
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knife
- /ˈnaɪ̯f/ US, UK
- /ˈnɐɪ̯f/
- /ˈnɜɪ̯f/
- /ˈnʌɪ̯f/
- /ˈnəɪ̯f/
- /ˈnɑɪ̯f/ Australia, New Zealand
- /ˈnɒ̈ɪ̯f/ Australia, New Zealand
- /ˈnaːf/
Rhymes with -aɪf
Where it comes from
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”).
noun knives · knyfe · knive
- 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. He was looking for a knife to chop some steak.
- A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing or stabbing but too short to be called a sword; a dagger.
- Any blade-like part in a tool or a machine designed for cutting, such as that of a chipper.
verb knifes · knifing · knifed · knyfe · knive
- To cut with a knife.
- To use a knife to injure or kill by stabbing, slashing, or otherwise using the sharp edge of the knife as a weapon. She was repeatedly knifed in the chest.
- To cut through as if with a knife. The boat knifed through the water.
- To betray, especially in the context of a political slate.
- To positively ignore, especially in order to denigrate; compare cut.
