knife
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English knyf, knif, from late Old English cnīf, from Old Norse knífr, 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.
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”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈnaɪ̯f/
- (Canada, Canadian raising) IPA(key): /ˈnɐɪ̯f/, /ˈnɜɪ̯f/, /ˈnʌɪ̯f/, /ˈnəɪ̯f/
- (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈnɑɪ̯f/, /ˈnɒ̈ɪ̯f/
- (Inland Southern US, General South African, /aɪ̯/-ungliding) IPA(key): /ˈnaːf/
- Rhymes: -aɪf
- Hyphenation: knife
Noun
knife (plural knives)
- 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.
- 2007, Scott Smith, The Ruins, page 273:
- Jeff was bent low over the backboard, working with the knife, a steady sawing motion, his shirt soaked through with sweat.
- 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.
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
See also: knife § Types
- 007 knife
- air knife
- athame
- ballistic knife
- banana knife
- Barlow knife
- Batangas knife
- bayonet
- bistoury
- Bolo knife
- boning knife
- boot knife
- Bowie knife, bowie knife
- bread knife
- bush knife
- butcher knife, butchers' knife, butcher's knife
- butterfly knife
- butterknife
- butter knife
- cane knife
- carpet knife
- carving knife
- case knife
- cheese knife
- chef's knife
- clasp-knife, clasp knife
- clicking knife
- cook's knife
- craft knife
- dagger
- deer antler knife
- deer horn knife
- dinner knife
- dirk
- dirk knife
- diving knife
- drawing knife
- drawknife
- eating knife
- electric carving knife
- electric knife
- Exacto knife
- falling knife
- fascine knife
- filleting knife
- fillet knife
- fish-knife
- fish knife
- fixie
- flick knife
- flick-knife
- folder
- folding knife
- gamma knife
- grapefruit knife
- gravity knife
- Gurkha knife
- hay knife
- herb knife
- hobby knife
- hunting knife
- jack-knife
- jack-knife barber
- Khyber knife
- kitchen knife
- leather knife
- Lebsche knife
- linoleum knife
- machete
- marking knife
- molecular knife
- moon-knife
- mora knife
- neck knife
- oyster knife
- oyster-shucking knife
- painting knife
- palette knife
- paper knife
- paper-knife
- paring knife
- penknife
- petty knife
- pocketknife
- pocket knife
- pocket-knife
- poniard
- putty knife
- race knife
- radio knife
- Rambo knife
- rasing-knife
- reed knife
- riving knife
- scalpel
- scalping knife
- scrieve knife
- sheath-knife
- sheath knife
- shucking knife
- snow knife
- squash knife
- Stanley knife
- steak knife
- stiletto
- survival knife
- sushi knife
- Swiss Army knife
- switchblade
- table knife
- tanto knife
- throwing knife
- tomato knife
- trench knife
- twist of the knife
- utility knife
- voiding knife
- waiter's knife
- white handled knife
- Yakutian knife
- Yakut knife
- zombie knife
Coordinate terms
- (tool or weapon for cutting): awl, cake slice, cake-slice, cutting tool, rapier, sword
Derived terms
Terms derived from knife (noun)
- before you can say knife
- bring a knife to a gunfight
- byknife
- catch a falling knife
- cut deeper than a knife
- cut like a knife
- cut with a knife and fork
- cyberknife
- did my back hurt your knife
- electroknife
- falling knife
- histoknife
- hot-knife
- knife and fork
- knife-and-fork
- knife arch
- knifeblade
- knife block
- knifeboard
- knife-boy
- knife-coloured
- knife control
- knifecraft
- knifecrime, knife crime
- knife-ear, knife ear
- knife-edge effect
- knife edge, knife-edge
- knife fight
- knifefish
- knifeful
- knife game
- knifegrinder, knife grinder
- knifehand
- knife-handle
- knifejaw
- knifeless
- knifelike
- knifemaker
- knifemaking
- knifeman
- knife money
- knifeplay
- knife pleat
- knifepoint
- knifeproof
- knifer
- knife-rest
- knife rest
- knife roll
- knifery
- knifesman
- knifesmith
- knifestory
- knife switch
- knife thrower
- knife twister
- knife-twister
- knife up
- knife urn
- knife wand
- knifework
- knived
- knork
- like a hot knife through butter
- like a knife through butter
- microknife
- not the sharpest knife in the drawer
- paperknife
- shaving knife
- shove knife
- spife
- stick the knife in
- storyknife
- take a knife to a gunfight
- turn the knife
- turn the knife in the wound
- twist the knife
- twist the knife in the wound
- under the knife
- vibroknife
- war to the knife
- Yellowknife
- you could cut the air with a knife
- you could cut the atmosphere with a knife
Descendants
Translations
utensil or tool designed for cutting
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weapon
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any blade-like part designed for cutting
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also
Verb
knife (third-person singular simple present knifes, present participle knifing, simple past and past participle knifed)
- (transitive) To cut with a knife.
- (transitive) 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.
- 1843, The Foreign Quarterly Review, volume 31, Treuttel and Würtz, Treuttel, Jun, and Richter, page 236:
- One day his sergeant began to cane him, on which, seizing his knife, he knifed the sergeant : he knifed the privates : he knifed until he was finally overpowered, and, brought before a court-martial, was condemned to fifteen years at the galleys.
- 2012, Robert Biswas-Diener, The Courage Quotient: How Science Can Make You Braver, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 92:
- The plane has been hijacked. They've already knifed a guy.
- 2015, Ross H. Spencer, The Fedorovich File, Diversion Books, →ISBN, page 211:
- Naw, they found him in the pissery of some gin mill near the Mohawk West terminal—he'd been knifed.
- (intransitive) To cut through as if with a knife.
- The boat knifed through the water.
- (transitive) To betray, especially in the context of a political slate.
- Synonyms: burn, quisle, stab in the back; see also Thesaurus:betray
- (transitive) To positively ignore, especially in order to denigrate; compare cut.
Derived terms
Translations
to use a knife to cut
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to use a knife to injure or kill
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to cut through as if with a knife
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
References
- ^ “knife”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
Anagrams
Middle English
Noun
knife
- alternative form of knyf