know
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /nəʊ/
ipa: /nɑː/
enpr: nō
ipa: /noʊ/
ipa: [nəʉ]
rhymes: -əʊ
homophone: no
homophone: noh
Forms: form: knows
form: knowing
form: knew
form: knowed
form: known
form: knew
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: know
form: know
form: knew
form: know
form: knowest
form: knew
form: knewest
form: knows
form: knoweth
form: knew
form: know
form: knew
form: know
form: knew
form: know
form: -
form: knowing
form: known
form: knaa
form: knowe
Etymology: From Middle English knowen, from Old English cnāwan (“to know, perceive, recognise”), from Proto-West Germanic *knāan, from Proto-Germanic *knēaną (“to know”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”).
Cognates
from Indo-European: Latin gnoscō, Latin cognoscō (Spanish conocer, French connaître, Romanian cunoaște, Italian conoscere, Portuguese conhecer), Ancient Greek γνωρίζω (gnōrízō, “I know”) and γνῶσις (gnôsis, “knowledge”), Albanian njoh (“I know, recognise”), Russian знать (znatʹ, “to know”), Lithuanian žinoti (“to know”), and Persian شناختن (šenâxtan, “to know”).
from Proto-Germanic: Scots knaw (“to know, recognise”), Icelandic knega (“to know, know how to, be able”), Old High German knājan (“to know, recognise”), Old Norse kná (“to know how”). Remotely related also Dutch and German kennen, West Frisian kenne (see English ken).
Senses: examples: text: Question things. I have the most fun when I'm writing questioning things that people do not question- the assumptions that everybody knows are true.
ref: 1985 April 17, Frank Herbert, 15:46 from the start, in Frank Herbert speaking at UCLA 4/17/1985, UCLACommStudies, archived from the original on 10 Feb 2017:
text: '[…] I know whether a boy is telling me the truth or not.'
'Thank you, sir.'
Did he hell. They never bloody did.
ref: 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section II, page 24:
text: I know that I’m right and you’re wrong.
text: He knew something terrible was going to happen.
glosses: To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that.
examples: text: Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew.
text: Malware's sometimes been known to sit dormant for a long time.
text: ‘A Gentleman!’ quoth the Squire, ‘who the Devil can he be? Do, Doctor, go down and ſee who ’tis. Mr. Blifil can hardly be come to town yet.—Go down, do, and know what his Buſineſs is.[’]
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, “A whimsical Adventure which befel the Squire, with the distressed Situation of Sophia”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume VI, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XVI, page 7:
glosses: To be or become aware or cognizant.
examples: text: Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew.
text: She knows where I live.
text: I knew he was upset, but I didn't understand why.
text: I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 18:
text: Discovered in 2015, the planet known as K2-18b is twice the size of Earth with eight times the mass. While it is thought to be rocky, no one knows if water’s flowing on the surface.
ref: 2019 September 12, “Scientists discover water, temperature conditions right for life at planet called K2-18b outside solar system”, in South China Morning Post, sourced from Associated Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Sep 2019, Europe:
glosses: To be aware of; to be cognizant of.
examples: text: You, and I haue knowne ſir.
ref: c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi], page 350, column 1:
glosses: To be acquainted (with another person).
examples: text: I know your mother, but I've never met your father.
text: Borja, do you know Pilar? - Sure, we've actually met before.
text: I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I shall have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I had left New York for the West.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 1:
text: Marsha is my roommate. — I know Marsha. She is nice.
ref: 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
glosses: To be acquainted or familiar with; to have encountered.
examples: text: AFterwarde the man knewe Heuáh his wife, which cõceiued & bare Káin, & ſaid, I haue obteined a man by yͤ Lord.
ref: 1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Genesis IIII:1, folio 2, verso:
text: Now Gerald had never thought of her having a mother. Then there must have been a father, too, some time. And Miss Wilmarth existed because two people once had loved and known. It was not a thought to dwell upon.
ref: 1939, Dorothy Parker, “Horsie,”, in Here lies: The collected stories of Dorothy Parker:
text: Wait a second. Are you… attempting to know me?
ref: 2003 May 11, Garland Testa, 19:37 from the start, in Gary McCarver, director, Night and Deity (King of the Hill), season 7, episode 21, spoken by Dale Gribble (Johnny Hardwick), 20th Century Fox:
topics: biblical
lifestyle
religion
glosses: To be acquainted or familiar with; to have encountered.
To have sexual relations with. This meaning normally specified in modern English as e.g. to 'know someone in the biblical sense' or to 'know biblically'.
examples: text: Their relationship knew ups and downs.
text: The Truman family knew good times and bad,[…].
ref: 1991, Irvin Haas, Historic Homes of the American Presidents, page 155:
glosses: To experience.
examples: text: Let me do it. I know how it works.
text: She knows how to swim.
text: His mother tongue is Italian, but he also knows French and English.
text: She knows chemistry better than anybody else.
text: Know your enemy and know yourself.
text: The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure.
ref: 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
glosses: To understand or have a grasp of through experience or study.
examples: text: to know a person's face or figure
text: to know right from wrong
text: I wouldn't know one from the other.
text: Ye ſhall knowe them by their frutes.
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew vij:[16], folio ix, recto:
text: The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
ref: 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, “The Shadow of the Bat”, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 6:
text: Flares do not know friend from foe and so illuminate both. Changes in wind direction can result in flare exposure of the attacker while defenders hide in the shadows.
ref: 1980, Armored and mechanized brigade operations, p.3−29
glosses: To be able to distinguish, to discern, particularly by contrast or comparison; to recognize the nature of.
examples: text: At nearer view he thought he knew the dead, / And call'd the wretched man to mind.
ref: c. 1645-1688, Thomas Flatman, Translation of Part of Petronius Arbiter's Satyricon:
text: Ernest also is so much improved, that you would hardly know him:[…].
ref: 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter V, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 115:
glosses: To recognize as the same (as someone or something previously encountered) after an absence or change.
examples: text: It is vital that he not know.
text: She knew of our plan.
text: He knows about 19th century politics.
text: “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
ref: 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 41:
text: Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.
ref: 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:
text: Marsha knows.
ref: 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
glosses: To have knowledge; to have information, be informed.
examples: text: Do you know "Blueberry Hill"?
glosses: To be able to play or perform (a song or other piece of music).
examples: text: Mmm... Seems you searched for a name that we don't know, we'll send our trained monkeys to check what's in stock.
ref: 2023 June 7, “Search Names and Meanings”, in Name Doctor, archived from the original on 07 Jun 2023:
glosses: To have indexed and have information about within one's database.
topics: human-sciences
philosophy
sciences
glosses: To maintain (a belief, a position) subject to a given philosophical definition of knowledge; to hold a justified true belief.
Synonyms: sense: have sexual relations with
word: coitize
word: go to bed with
word: sleep with
word: copulate with
Hyponyms: grok
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: acknow
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: all-knowing
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: as far as one knows
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: as we know it
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: as you know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: be a poet and not know it
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: beknow
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: be not to know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
english: than the devil you don't (know); than the one you don't (know)
translation: than the devil you don't (know); than the one you don't (know)
word: better the devil you know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: by their fruits you will know them
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: damned if I know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: do I know you
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: don't I know it
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: don't know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: don't you know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: do you know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: do you know the Bishop of Norwich
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: do you know what I'm saying
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: do you know who I am
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: foreknow
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: formerly known as
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: fuck if I know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: getting-to-know-you
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: get to know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: God knows
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: God only knows
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: heaven knows
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: hell if I know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: how should I know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: how would I know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: ICYDK
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: IDK
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I'd like to know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I do not know it
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I don't know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I don't know about that
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: if you know what I mean
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I hardly even know her
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I hardly know her
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I know it
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I know it when I see it
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I know that's right
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I know you are but what am I
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I'll have you know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I'm a poet and I didn't even know it
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: interknow
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: in the know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: it's not what you know but who you know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: it takes one to know one
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: I want to know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: kneweth
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know a B from a battledore
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: knowability
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: knowable
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know about
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know A from B
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know-all
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know any better
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know back to front
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know backwards
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know ball
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know beans about
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know better
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know B from a battledore
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: knowbie
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: knowbot
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: knower
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know everything
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know-everything
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know-everythingism
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know every trick in the book
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know fine well
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know from
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know from a bar of soap
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: knowful
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know full well
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: knowfulness
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know-how
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know how many beans make five
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know how to pick 'em
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know how to walk before one can run
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know if one is Arthur or Martha
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: knowing
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: knowing is half the battle
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: knowingly
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know inside and out
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know inside out
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know-it-all
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know-it-allery
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know-it-allism
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: Knowland
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: knowledge
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know like a book
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know like the back of one's hand
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know like the back
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: palm of one's hand
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know no bounds
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: Know-Nothing
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know-nothing
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know-nothingness
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know of
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's arse from one's elbow
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's ass from a hole in the ground
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's ass from one's elbow
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's head from a hole in the ground
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's head from one's ass
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's mind
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's onions
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's own head
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's own mind
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's place
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's shit
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's stuff
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know one's way around
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know shit from Shinola
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: knowsome
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know someone
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know someone from a can of paint
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know someone from Adam
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know someone from Adam's off ox
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know someone from a hole in the ground
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know someone from a hole in the wall
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know someone from Eve
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know someone from the man in the moon
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know someone from the man on the moon
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know someone in the biblical sense
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know someone when
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know something backwards
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know the difference between one's ass and a hole in the ground
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know the difference between one's ass and one's elbow
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know the drill
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know the ropes
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know the score
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know the shit
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know thyself
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know what
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know what is what
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know what o'clock it is
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know what one is about
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know what one is doing
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know what's o'clock
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know what's what
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know when to fold 'em
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know where one stands
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know where the bodies are buried
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know whether one is Arthur or Martha
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know which end is up
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know which side one's bread is buttered on
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: know which way is up
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: let know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: let's know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: little did one know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: misknow
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: need-to-know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: nice knowing you
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: not know one is born
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: not know someone from Adam
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: not know what hit one
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: not know what one is missing
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: not know where to turn
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: not know whether one is coming or going
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: not know whether to shit or go blind
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: not know whether to spit or go blind
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: not know which end is up
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: not know which way to turn
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: not that I know of
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: on a need-to-know basis
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: one will know the reason why
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: reknow
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: takes one to know one
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: tell me something I don't know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: that's for me to know and you to find out
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: the dear knows
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: the devil that you know is better than the devil that you don't know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: the devil we know is better than the devil we don't
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: the devil we know is better than the devil we don't know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: the devil you know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: the devil you know is better than the devil you don't
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: the more you know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: the nose knows
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: unknow
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: unknowable
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: unknown
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: want to know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: whaddayaknow
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: what do I know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: what do you know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: what you don't know can't hurt you
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: who wants to know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
english: it
translation: it
word: wouldn't you know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: y'know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: yaknow
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you don't know what you're talking about
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you don't know where it's been
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you don't want to know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you know it
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you know something
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you know what I mean
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you know what I'm saying
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you know what they say
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you know what
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you-know-what
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you-know-who
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you never know
sense: Terms derived from know (verb)
word: you never know what you've got till it's gone