KNIFE
What does "KNIFE" mean?
A cutting instrument with a sharp blade fixed in a handle.
Meanings
- A tool or weapon with a handle and a blade for cutting. She wiped the bread knife clean before slicing the loaf.
- To stab or cut someone or something with a knife. The thriller opens with a man knifed in a dark alley.
- To move through something cleanly and swiftly, as a blade would. The racing yacht knifed through the grey water. figurative
Did you know?
- The silent K in 'knife' was once spoken: Old English speakers actually pronounced the 'k' in 'cnif', and the cluster only went quiet around the 1600s.
"Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes."— William Shakespeare
Word origin
From Old English 'cnif', likely from Old Norse 'knifr'; the initial 'k' was pronounced in Old and Middle English but fell silent by the 17th century.
Remember it
KNIFE = silent K + 'nife'; picture the K lying flat like a blade you cannot hear coming.
A little poem
One honest steel edge-
it cannot tell the surgeon
from the thief who steals.
haiku
Wordplay
- I'm reading a book about anti-gravity knives. They're impossible to put down.
What it teaches
A knife has no intentions; everything dangerous about it lives in the hand.
Quick facts
What does KNIFE mean?
A cutting instrument with a sharp blade fixed in a handle.
Is KNIFE a valid word?
Yes — KNIFE is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is KNIFE?
KNIFE has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does KNIFE come from?
From Old English 'cnif', likely from Old Norse 'knifr'; the initial 'k' was pronounced in Old and Middle English but fell silent by the 17th century.
What can KNIFE teach us?
A knife has no intentions; everything dangerous about it lives in the hand.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.