knight
pronunciation
How to pronounce knight in British English:
UK [naɪt]
How to pronounce knight in American English:
US [naɪt]
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- Noun:
- originally a person of noble birth trained to arms and chivalry; today in Great Britain a person honored by the sovereign for personal merit
- a chessman in the shape of a horse's head; can move two squares horizontally and one vertically (or vice versa)
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- Verb:
- raise (someone) to knighthood
Word Origin
- knight
- knight: [OE] The word knight has come up in the world over the centuries. In the Old English period it simply meant ‘boy’ or ‘young man’. By the 10th century it had broadened out to ‘male servant’, and within a hundred years of that we find it being used for ‘military servant, soldier’. This is the general level or ‘rank’ at which the word’s continental relatives, German and Dutch knecht, have remained.But in England, in the course of the early Middle Ages, knight came to denote, in the feudal system, ‘one who bore arms in return for land’, and later ‘one raised to noble rank in return for military service’. The modern notion of knighthood as a rung in the nobility, without any necessary connotations of military prowess, dates from the 16th century.
- knight (n.)
- Old English cniht "boy, youth; servant, attendant," common West Germanic (cognates: Old Frisian kniucht, Dutch knecht, Middle High German kneht "boy, youth, lad," German Knecht "servant, bondman, vassal"), of unknown origin. The plural in Middle English sometimes was knighten. Meaning "military follower of a king or other superior" is from c. 1100. Began to be used in a specific military sense in Hundred Years War, and gradually rose in importance until it became a rank in the nobility 16c. The chess piece so called from mid-15c. Knight in shining armor in figurative sense is from 1917, from the man who rescues the damsel in distress in romantic dramas (perhaps especially "Lohengrin"). Knights of Columbus, society of Catholic men, founded 1882 in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.; Knights of Labor, trade union association, founded in Philadelphia, 1869; Knights of Pythias, secret order, founded in Washington, 1864.
- knight (v.)
- "to make a knight of (someone)," early 13c., from knight (n.). Related: Knighted; knighting.
Example
- 1. He built his career on being the white knight .
- 2. He made him first a knight , then a senator and finally a count .
- 3. Eg. the knight felt no fear in the midst of battle .
- 4. But the knight showed no interest .
- 5. Thailand is waiting to learn what a female knight can do .