knap

Ca. 1500. A word originally found only in Dutch and Low German; compare Middle Low German knap, whence German knapp, Danish knap, Swedish knapp, all “scarce, scant”, also “tight-fitting, small” (of clothes). From the last, Dutch derived “attractive, pretty”, which was then further generalised; cf. semantically German schmücken (“to embellish", originally "to fit tightly”). Further origin unknown. Perhaps comparable to Ancient Greek κνάπτω (knáptō, “to card wool”), κνέφαλλον (knéphallon, “flock, wool”), in the sense of "tight-fitting, shapely."

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knap

Meaning

knappen

Concepts

Synonyms

Translations

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/knɑp/

Etymology

Cognate with Middle Low German

knap

Cognate with German

knapp

Cognate with Danish

knap

Cognate with Swedish

knapp

Cognate with Ancient Greek

κνάπτω

In summary

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