knotty
English · Thesaurus
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knotty
- /ˈnɒti/ UK
- /ˈnɑti/ US
- [-ɾi] US
Sounds like naughty (cot–caught merger), noddy (flapping) · Rhymes with -ɒti
Where it comes from
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”)
adjective knottier · more knotty · knottiest · most knotty
- Of string or something stringlike: full of, or tied up, in knots. I could a Tale vnfold, vvhoſe lighteſt vvord / VVould harrovv vp thy ſoule, freeze thy young blood, / Make thy tvvo eyes like Starres, ſtart from their Spheres, / Thy knotty and combined locks to part, / And each particular haire to ſtand an end, / Like Quilles vpon the fretfull Porpentine: […]
- Of a part of the body, a tree, etc.: full of knots (knobs or swellings); gnarled, knobbly. a knotty pine
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Complicated or tricky; complex, difficult.
a knotty problem
Similar: intricate, thorny, complex, complexed, complicate, complicated, convoluted, Gordian, involute, involutional, involved, knotty · Opposite: simple, uncomplicated
- Of an austere or hard nature; rugged. [A] witte in youth, that is not ouer dulle, heauie, knottie and lumpiſhe, but hard, rough, and though ſomwhat ſtaffiſhe, […] ſuch a witte I ſay, if it be, at the firſt well handled by the mother, and rightlie ſmothed and wrought as it ſhould, not ouerwhartlie, and against the wood, by the ſcholemaſt
Translations
Every language
adj of string or something stringlike: full of, or tied up, in knots
| Español | nudoso |
|---|---|
| Italiano | nodoso |
| Ελληνικά | οζώδης ozódis |
| Română | nodos |
| Русский | сучкова́тый sučkovátyj |
adj complicated or tricky — see also complex, difficult
| Ελληνικά | δυσεπίλυτος dysepílytos, πολύπλοκος polýplokos, δύσκολος dýskolos |
|---|---|
| Русский | запу́танный zapútannyj |
Talk about this word "knotty." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/knotty. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. knotty. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/knotty "knotty." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/knotty.Cite this
@misc{knotty_2026,
title = {knotty},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/knotty},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
