knee

A2 Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ni/ UK /niː/ See IPA manual

Freq #3734

Meanings

1

noun
The joint in the middle of your leg, where it bends.

Penny was wearing a miniskirt, so she skinned her exposed knees when she fell.
2

verb
To hit someone or something with your knee.

He kneed his attacker in the stomach and ran.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms kneedkneeingknees

Derived forms akneedrop-kneeknee-bandknee-breechesknee-bucklerknee-capknee-cappingknee-cordsknee-crookingknee-deepknee-highknee-jerk

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

knee breeches
short trousers that reach approximately to the knees

Noun + noun

Proverbs (1)

See all

It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees

Etymology

From Middle English kne, from Old English cnēow, from Proto-West Germanic *kneu, from Proto-Germanic *knewą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéw-o-m, a thematic derivative of *ǵónu. See also West Frisian knibbel, Low German Knee, Knie, Dutch knie, German Knie, Danish knæ, Norwegian kne, Swedish knä; also Hittite 𒄀𒉡 (genu), Latin genū, Tocharian A kanweṃ (dual), Tocharian B kenī, Ancient Greek γόνυ (gónu, “knee”), γωνία (gōnía, “corner, angle”), Welsh glin (“knee”), Old Armenian ծունր (cunr), Avestan 𐬲𐬥𐬎𐬨 (žnum), Sanskrit जानु (jā́nu). The obsolete plural kneen is from Middle English kneen, knen, kn…

kne Middle English cnēow Old English *kneu Proto-West Germanic *knewą Proto-Germanic kenī keni kneen Middle English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# knee

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ni/
**IPA (UK):** /niː/
**Frequency rank:** 3734

## Meanings
1. The joint in the middle of your leg, where it bends.
2. To hit someone or something with your knee.

## Examples
- Penny was wearing a miniskirt, so she skinned her exposed knees when she fell.
- He kneed his attacker in the stomach and ran.

## Derived Forms
- aknee
- drop-knee
- knee-band
- knee-breeches
- knee-buckler
- knee-cap
- knee-capping
- knee-cords
- knee-crooking
- knee-deep
- knee-high
- knee-jerk

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: kne
- Root: cnēow
- Root: *kneu
- Root: *knewą
- Root: kenī
- Root: kneen

## Etymology
From Middle English kne, from Old English cnēow, from Proto-West Germanic *kneu, from Proto-Germanic *knewą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéw-o-m, a thematic derivative of *ǵónu. See also West Frisian knibbel, Low German Knee, Knie, Dutch knie, German Knie, Danish knæ, Norwegian kne, Swedish knä; also Hittite 𒄀𒉡 (genu), Latin genū, Tocharian A kanweṃ (dual), Tocharian B kenī, Ancient Greek γόνυ (gónu, “knee”), γωνία (gōnía, “corner, angle”), Welsh glin (“knee”), Old Armenian ծունր (cunr), Avestan 𐬲𐬥𐬎𐬨 (žnum), Sanskrit जानु (jā́nu). The obsolete plural kneen is from Middle English kneen, knen, kn…

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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