# knife
## English
### Alternative forms

* (noun): knyfe (obsolete)
** (plural): knifes (nonstandard)
* (verb): knive (uncommon)

### 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.
The verb knife is attested since the mid 1800s; the variant knive is attested since 1733.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /naɪf/
* (General Australian) IPA: /nɑɪf/
* Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪf

### 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.
** 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

* cold weapon, edged weapon, tool

#### Hyponyms

* 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
* butter knife
* butterknife
* 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
* 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
* knife-ear
* knife ear
* leather knife
* Lebsche knife
* linoleum knife
* machete
* marking knife
* molecular knife
* moon-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
* 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

* 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
* knifeblade
* knife block
* knifeboard
* knife-boy
* knife-coloured
* knife control
* knifecraft
* knife crime
* knifecrime
* knife edge
* knife-edge
* knife-edge effect
* knife fight
* knifefish
* knifeful
* knife game
* knifegrinder
* knifehand
* 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 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 atmosphere with a knife

#### Descendants

* Sranan Tongo: nefi
* → Japanese: ナイフ
* → Korean: 나이프 (naipeu)
* → Portuguese: naifa
* → Samoan: naifi

#### Translations

Afrikaans: mes (af)
Arabic: خَنْجَر m (ḵanjar)
Egyptian Arabic: خنجر m (ḵángar)
Armenian: դանակ (hy) (danak)
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܲܢܓ̰ܵܪܵܐ m (ḥanjārā), ܣܲܟܝܼܢܵܐ m (sakīnā)
Avar: нус (nus)
Bulgarian: кинжал (bg) m (kinžal)
Catalan: coltell (ca) m, daga (ca) f, ganivet (ca) m, punyal (ca) m
Cherokee: ᎭᏰᎳᏍᏗ (hayelasdi)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 刀 (zh) (dāo)
Czech: nůž (cs) m
Danish: kniv (da) c
Dutch: mes (nl) n
Egyptian: (jry), (zft)
Estonian: puss (et), tääk (et) (dagger)
Finnish: puukko (fi), veitsi (fi); tikari (fi) (dagger)
French: couteau (fr) m
Galician: coitelo (gl) m
Georgian: დანა (ka) (dana)
German: Messer (de) n
Greek: μαχαίρι (el) n (machaíri)
Ancient: μάχαιρα f (mákhaira)
Hebrew: סַכִּין (he) m or f (sakín)
Hungarian: kés (hu)
Icelandic: hnífur (is) m
Indonesian: pisau (id)
Irish: scian (ga) f
Italian: coltello (it) m
Japanese: ナイフ (ja) (naifu), 短剣 (ja) (たんけん, tanken), 小刀 (ja) (しょうとう, shōtō), 刀 (ja) (かたな, katana)
Khmer: កាំបិត (km) (kambət)
Korean: 칼 (ko) (kal)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: چەقۆ (ckb) (çeqo)
Latin: culter
Latvian: nazis m
Lithuanian: peilis m
Macedonian: нож (mk) m (nož)
Neapolitan: curtiello m
Ngazidja Comorian: putshari
Norman: couoté m (France), couté m (Jersey)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kniv (no) m
Nynorsk: kniv m
Ojibwe: mookomaan
Persian:
Iranian Persian: خَنْجَر (xanjar)
Plautdietsch: Massa n
Polish: nóż (pl) m
Portuguese: faca (pt) f
Romani: shuri f
Russian: нож (ru) m (nož), перо́ (ru) n (peró) (lit.: "feather", "quill", criminal slang), фи́нка (ru) f (fínka) (Finnish knife), теса́к (ru) m (tesák) (slang for "финка")
Scottish Gaelic: sgian f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: нож m
Roman: nož (sh) m
Slovene: nož (sl) m
Sotho: thipa
Spanish: cuchillo (es) m, puñal (es) m
Swahili: kisu (sw)
Swedish: dolk (sv) c, kniv (sv) c
Tarifit: uzzar m
Tok Pisin: naip
Ukrainian: ніж (uk) m (niž)
Walloon: coutea (wa) m
West Frisian: mes (fy) :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### See also

* knife on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### 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.
* (transitive) To positively ignore, especially in order to denigrate; compare cut.

#### Derived terms

* knife up

#### Translations

    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 Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

### Anagrams

* Finke

## Middle English
### Noun

knife
* Alternative form of knyf