know

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To have information or facts in your mind.

   I know that the meeting starts at noon.

2. 2
   verb

   To be familiar with a person, place, or thing.

   They do not know this composer despite having studied the period.

3. 3
   verb

   To understand how to do something.

   I want to know how to knit.

4. 4
   verb

   To have experienced a feeling or situation yourself.

   I know the feeling!

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Know is an Old English word from an ancient root shared with can and Scots ken. Related forms include Latin noscere and Greek gignōskein, “to know,” the latter contributing to words such as agnostic.

From Middle English knowen, from Old English cnāwan (“to know, perceive, recognise”), from Proto-West Germanic *knāan, from Proto-Germanic *knēaną (“to know”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”). Cognates from Indo-European: Latin gnoscō, Latin cognoscō (Spanish conocer, French connaître, Romanian cunoaște, Italian conoscere, Portuguese conhecer), Ancient Greek γνωρίζω (gnōrízō, “to know”) and γνῶσις (gnôsis, “knowledge”), Albanian njoh (“to know, recognise”), Russian знать (znatʹ, “to know”), Lithuanian žinoti (“to know”), and Persian شناختن (šenâxtan, “to know”). from Proto-Germani…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary