knuckle

Meaning

Noun

1. Any of the joints between the bones of the fingers.
2. (broadly) A mechanical joint.
3. The curved part of the cushion at the entrance to the pockets on a cue sports table.
4. The kneejoint of a quadruped, especially of a calf; formerly, the kneejoint of a human being.
5. A cut of meat of various kinds.
6. (obsolete) The joint of a plant.
7. A convex portion of a vessel's figure where a sudden change of shape occurs, as in a canal boat, where a nearly vertical side joins a nearly flat bottom.
8. A contrivance, usually of brass or iron, and furnished with points, worn to protect the hand, to add force to a blow, and to disfigure the person struck; a knuckle duster.
9. The rounded point where a flat changes to a slope on a piste.

Verb

1. (transitive) To apply pressure, or rub or massage with one's knuckles (sense 1).
2. (slang, transitive) To strike or punch.
3. (intransitive) To bend the fingers.
4. (intransitive) To touch one's forehead as a mark of respect.
5. (figuratively, intransitive) To yield.
6. To land on the knuckle (sense 9) of a curve of a slope, after a jump off a ramp that precedes the slope.

Synonyms

joint

finger joint

bulge

metacarpophalangeal joint

elbow

wrist

node

knuckle joint

knot

🪢

kneecap

knuckle-duster

neck

nub

occasion

phalanx

section

stub axle

submit

time

⌚

toggle

tuber

vertebra

back of the knee

cubitus

dactylopodite

finger-joint

knucklejoint

toggle joint

knuckle pivot

steering knuckle

slewing journal

ankle

finger knuckle

anklebone

articulation

disjoint

elbow joint

fist

✊

give way

ham

hock

Translations

nocca

nudillo

articulation

jointure

Knöchel

articolazione

Fingerknöchel

articulation du doigt

artell

knokkel

jointure du doigt

artejo

nó

🪢

articulación

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈnʌkəl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: knokel

Inherited from Old English: cnucel

Cognate with Dutch: knokkel

Cognate with Low German: Knökel

Cognate with German: Knöchel

Cognate with Old Norse: knykill

In summary

From Middle English knokel (“finger joint”), from Old English cnucel (“the juncture of two bones; knuckle; joint”), from Proto-West Germanic *knukil, from Proto-Germanic *knukilaz (“knuckle, knot, bump”), as *knukô (“bone, joint”) + *-ilaz (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Dutch knokkel (“knuckle”), Low German Knökel (“knuckle”), German Knöchel (“ankle, knuckle”), Old Norse knykill.