canif
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle English knif (“knife”), from Old English cnīf (“knife”), from Proto-West Germanic *knīb, from Proto-Germanic *knībaz (“knife”). Akin to Old French cnivet, canivet (“little knife”), Catalan ganivet (“knife”), from Frankish *knīf (“knife”), from the same Germanic source. More at knife.
Pronunciation
Noun
canif m (plural canifs)
- penknife
- 1976, Serge Gainsbourg (lyrics and music), “Chez Max coiffeur pour hommes”, in L’homme à tête de chou:
- Et sens la pointe d’un canif / Me percer le cœur je luis dis / "Petite je te sors ce soir, ok ?"
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Further reading
- “canif”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Categories:
- French terms borrowed from Middle English
- French terms derived from Middle English
- French terms derived from Old English
- French terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- French terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French terms with quotations