knife

Meaning

Noun

1. 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.
2. A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing or stabbing but too short to be called a sword; a dagger.
3. Any blade-like part in a tool or a machine designed for cutting, such as that of a chipper.

Verb

1. (transitive) To cut with a knife.
2. (transitive) To use a knife to injure or kill by stabbing, slashing, or otherwise using the sharp edge of the knife as a weapon.
3. (intransitive) To cut through as if with a knife.
4. (transitive) To betray, especially in the context of a political slate.
5. (transitive) To positively ignore, especially in order to denigrate; compare cut.

Synonyms

stab

dagger

🗡️

penknife

sword

blade

machete

pierce

razor

🪒

dirk

cutter

tongue

👅

pocket knife

cut

iron

small knife

big knife

short sword

folding

poniard

scalpel

chive

paring knife

table knife

stiletto

shiv

thrust

pointed carver

long

ligule

ledge

jut

cleaver

jab

cleave

hogback

gore

clasp-knife

bistoury

axe

🪓

razorblade

rabbler

facer

projection

drawshave

plate

razor blade

sawtooth

drawknife

scimitar

chisel

Translations

couteau

🔪

Messer

🔪

cuchillo

🔪

coltello

🔪

mes

🔪

faca

🔪

ganivet

🔪

μαχαίρι

bıçak

🔪

culter

🔪

kêr

🔪

coltell

🔪

cotèl

سكين

🔪

Pronounced as (IPA)

/naɪf/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: knyf

Inherited from Old English: cnīf

Cognate with Lithuanian: gnýbti

In summary

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”).

Sentences

He took his plate , grabbed a knife and fork and scowled at the savagery on television .