knife
pronunciation
How to pronounce knife in British English:
UK [naɪf]
How to pronounce knife in American English:
US [naɪf]
-
- Noun:
- edge tool used as a cutting instrument; has a pointed blade with a sharp edge and a handle
- a weapon with a handle and blade with a sharp point
- any long thin projection that is transient
-
- Verb:
- use a knife on
Word Origin
- knife
- knife: [11] Knife is not a native English word, but a borrowing. It came from Old Norse knífr, which survives also in modern Swedish knif and Danish knif. It can be traced back to a prehistoric Germanic *knībaz, which also produced German kneif ‘cobbler’s knife’, and was borrowed by French as canif ‘knife’, but its previous ancestry is not known.
- knife (n.)
- late Old English cnif, probably from Old Norse knifr, from Proto-Germanic *knibaz (cognates: Middle Low German knif, Middle Dutch cnijf, German kneif), of uncertain origin. To further confuse the etymology, there also are forms in -p-, such as Dutch knijp, German kneip. French canif "penknife" (mid-15c.) is borrowed from Middle English or Norse.
- knife (v.)
- 1865, from knife (n.). Related: Knifed; knifing.
Example
- 1. A nasty man with a knife can injure people .
- 2. Eg. he boiled his syringe and fired his knife to sterilize them .
- 3. Jake takes the knife and cuts grace free .
- 4. The brothers only drew strength from the darkened cell and the torturer 's knife .
- 5. When a kitchen knife slips while you 're chopping vegetables , the body reacts swiftly .