knot

B2 Topic:Maritime & Sailing

US /nɑt/ UK /nɒt/ See IPA manual

Homophones

not /nɑt/

Minimal pairs

Sounds like note /ɑ/ vs /oʊ/ Sounds like nut /ʌ/ vs /ɑ/

Freq #7696

Meanings

1

noun
A fastening made by tying a piece of rope, string, or cord.

They made a sturdy knot while tying up the boat.
2

verb
To tie something into a knot.

He knotted his shoelaces tightly.
3

noun
A small, tight group of people or things.

A small knot of parishioners listened to the sermon.
4

noun
A hard round spot in wood where a branch once grew.

The saw buckled when it hit a knot.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

confuse flummox join

Opposites

loosen unbind unknot untie

Word family

Forms knotsknottedknottingunknotted

Derived forms bowknotbreastknotendknotinknotinterknotkcaskeaskiasknknot-hornknotberryknotful

Related forms braid bruisehickeyknit loop plait tangle tie weave

Appears in

Phrases (2)

See all

Idioms (2)

See all

tie the knot
to get married
get your panties in a bunch
Matching variant: get your panties in a knot

become unnecessarily upset or annoyed

Simplified etymology

Knot is an Old English word closely related to knit. Its nautical use as a unit of speed comes from measuring a ship’s progress with a line marked by knots at fixed intervals, producing the modern sense of one nautical mile per hour.

Etymology

From Middle English knotte, from Old English cnotta, from Proto-West Germanic *knottō, from Proto-Germanic *knuttô, *knudô (“knot”); probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnod- (“to bind”). See also Old High German knoto (German Knoten, Dutch knot, Low German Knütte; also Old Norse knútr > Danish knude, Swedish knut, Norwegian knute, Faroese knútur, Icelandic hnútur; also Latin nōdus and its Romance descendants. Doublet of knout, node, and nodus. * (unit of speed): From the practice of counting the number of knots in the logline (as it is paid out) in a standard time. Traditionally spa…

knotte Middle English cnotta Old English *knottō Proto-West Germanic *knuttô Proto-Germanic *gnod- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Maritime & Sailing General Vocabulary

External links

# knot

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /nɑt/
**IPA (UK):** /nɒt/
**Frequency rank:** 7696

## Meanings
1. A fastening made by tying a piece of rope, string, or cord.
2. To tie something into a knot.
3. A small, tight group of people or things.
4. A hard round spot in wood where a branch once grew.

## Examples
- They made a sturdy knot while tying up the boat.
- He knotted his shoelaces tightly.
- A small knot of parishioners listened to the sermon.
- The saw buckled when it hit a knot.

## Synonyms
- confuse
- flummox
- join

## Antonyms
- loosen
- unbind
- unknot
- untie

## Derived Forms
- bowknot
- breastknot
- endknot
- inknot
- interknot
- kcas
- keas
- kias
- kn
- knot-horn
- knotberry
- knotful

## Related Forms
- braid
- bruise
- hickey
- knit
- loop
- plait
- tangle
- tie
- weave

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: knotte
- Root: cnotta
- Root: *knottō
- Root: *knuttô
- Root: *gnod-

## Etymology
From Middle English knotte, from Old English cnotta, from Proto-West Germanic *knottō, from Proto-Germanic *knuttô, *knudô (“knot”); probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnod- (“to bind”). See also Old High German knoto (German Knoten, Dutch knot, Low German Knütte; also Old Norse knútr > Danish knude, Swedish knut, Norwegian knute, Faroese knútur, Icelandic hnútur; also Latin nōdus and its Romance descendants. Doublet of knout, node, and nodus. * (unit of speed): From the practice of counting the number of knots in the logline (as it is paid out) in a standard time. Traditionally spa…

## Topics
- Maritime & Sailing
- General Vocabulary

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