knife
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /naɪf/
ipa: /nɑɪf/
rhymes: -aɪf
Forms: form: knives
form: knyfe
form: knive
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 1860s; the variant knive is attested since 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”).
Senses: examples: text: He was looking for a knife to chop some steak.
text: Jeff was bent low over the backboard, working with the knife, a steady sawing motion, his shirt soaked through with sweat.
ref: 2007, Scott Smith, The Ruins, page 273:
glosses: 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.
glosses: A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing or stabbing but too short to be called a sword; a dagger.
glosses: 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
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
neck knife
oyster knife
oyster-shucking knife
painting knife
palette knife
paper-knife
paper knife
paring knife
penknife
petty knife
pocket knife
pocket-knife
pocketknife
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: sense: tool or weapon for cutting
word: awl
sense: tool or weapon for cutting
word: cake slice
sense: tool or weapon for cutting
word: cake-slice
sense: tool or weapon for cutting
word: cutting tool
sense: tool or weapon for cutting
word: rapier
sense: tool or weapon for cutting
word: sword
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: before you can say knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: bring a knife to a gunfight
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: byknife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: catch a falling knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: cut deeper than a knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: cut like a knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: cut with a knife and fork
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: cyberknife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: did my back hurt your knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: electroknife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: falling knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: histoknife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: hot-knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife-and-fork
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifeblade
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife block
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifeboard
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife-boy
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife-coloured
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife control
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifecraft
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifecrime
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife crime
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife-ear
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife ear
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife-edge
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife edge
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife-edge effect
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife fight
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifefish
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifeful
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife game
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifegrinder
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife grinder
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifehand
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifejaw
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifeless
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifelike
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifemaker
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifemaking
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifeman
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife money
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifeplay
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife pleat
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifepoint
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifeproof
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifer
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife-rest
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife rest
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife roll
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifery
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifesman
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifesmith
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifestory
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife switch
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife thrower
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife-twister
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife twister
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife up
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife urn
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knife wand
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knifework
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knived
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: knork
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: like a hot knife through butter
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: like a knife through butter
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: microknife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: not the sharpest knife in the drawer
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: paperknife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: shaving knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: shove knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: spife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: stick the knife in
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: storyknife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: take a knife to a gunfight
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: turn the knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: turn the knife in the wound
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: twist the knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: twist the knife in the wound
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: under the knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: vibroknife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: war to the knife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: Yellowknife
sense: Terms derived from knife (noun)
word: you could cut the atmosphere with a knife