knight

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /naɪt/ UK /naɪt/ See IPA manual

Homophones

night /ˈnaɪt/

Meanings

1

noun
a man granted honorary rank for service, historically a mounted warrior

The young knight knelt as the king touched each shoulder with a sword.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a man granted honorary rank... cavalier chevalier horseman warriorpaladin

Word family

Derived forms knighthood knightlyknighted

Appears in

Idioms (1)

See all

white knight
a friendly company or investor that rescues a target from a hostile takeover

Simplified etymology

Knight comes from Old English cnicht, meaning “boy,” “youth,” or “servant.” During the Middle Ages its meaning developed into that of a man holding an honourable military rank.

Etymology

From Old English cniht ('boy, youth, servant'), from Proto-Germanic *knehtaz ('boy, servant'); the sense 'mounted warrior' developed in Middle English.

cniht Old English *knehtaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# knight

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /naɪt/
**IPA (UK):** /naɪt/

## Meanings
1. a man granted honorary rank for service, historically a mounted warrior

## Examples
- The young knight knelt as the king touched each shoulder with a sword.

## Synonyms
- cavalier
- chevalier
- horseman
- warrior
- paladin

## Derived Forms
- knighthood
- knightly
- knighted

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: cniht
- Root: *knehtaz

## Etymology
From Old English cniht ('boy, youth, servant'), from Proto-Germanic *knehtaz ('boy, servant'); the sense 'mounted warrior' developed in Middle English.

## AI Etymology
Knight comes from Old English cniht ('boy, youth, servant'), from Proto-Germanic *knehtaz ('boy, servant'); the sense 'mounted warrior' developed in Middle English. The etymological trail includes Old English cniht, Proto-Germanic *knehtaz. The same word family includes knighthood, knightly, knighted. Its current noun use means "a man granted honorary rank for service, historically a mounted warrior".

## Topics
- People & Society

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