knee

See also: Knee

English

Etymology

From Middle English kne, from Old English cnēo, from Proto-Germanic *knewą (compare Low German Knee, Dutch knie, German Knie, Danish knæ, Norwegian kne, Swedish knä), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéwo-, a thematic derivative of *ǵónu. Compare Hittite 𒄀𒉡 (genu), Latin genū, Tocharian A kanweṃ (dual), Tocharian B kenī, Ancient Greek γόνυ (gónu, “knee”), γωνία (gōnía, “corner, angle”), Old Armenian ծունր (cunr), Avestan 𐬲𐬥𐬎𐬨‎ (žnum), Sanskrit जानु (jānu).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: nē, IPA^(key): /niː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ni/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophone: nee

Noun

knee (plural knees or (obsolete or dialectal) kneen)

1. In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.

   Penny was wearing a miniskirt, so she skinned her exposed knees when she fell.

2. In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in humans.
3. The part of a garment that covers the knee.
4. (shipbuilding) A piece of timber or metal formed with an angle somewhat in the shape of the human knee when bent.
   • 1980, Richard W. Unger, The Ship in the Medieval Economy 600-1600, page 41

     Deck beams were supported by hanging knees, triangular pieces of wood typically found underneath the timbers they are designed to support, but in this case found above them.

5. (archaic) An act of kneeling, especially to show respect or courtesy.
   • circa 1605, William Shakepeare, Timon of Athens, Act III, scene iii, line 36

     Give them title, knee, and approbation.

   To make a knee.

6. Any knee-shaped item or sharp angle in a line, "the knee of a graph", an inflection point.
7. A blow made with the knee; a kneeing.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• down on one's knees
• knee-breeches
• kneecap

• kneejerk, knee-jerk
• kneel
• knee-length

• kneepan
• kneesies
• knees-up

Translations

joint in the middle of the leg and area around it

• Abkhaz: ашьамхы (āš̍āmxə)
• Adyghe: лъэгуанджэ (łăg°ānǯ̍ă)
• Afrikaans: knie (af)
• Albanian: gju (sq) m
• Amharic: ጉልበት (gulbät)
• Arabic: رُكْبَة‎ f (rukba)

  Egyptian Arabic: ركبة‎ f (rukba)

• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: ברכא‎ f (birkā)

  Syriac: ܒܘܪܟܐ‎ f (burkā)

• Armenian: ծունկ (hy) (cunk)
• Aromanian: dzinuclju n, dzãnuclju n, dzenuclju n
• Assamese: আঁঠু (ãthu)
• Asturian: rodiya (ast) f, rodiella (ast) f
• Avar: наку (naku)
• Azerbaijani: diz (az)
• Baluchi: کونڈ‎ (konď)
• Bashkir: тубыҡ (tubïq)
• Basque: belaun (eu)
• Bau Bidayuh: koruob
• Belarusian: кале́на n (kaljéna)
• Bengali: হাঁটু (hãṭu)
• Breton: glin (br) m
• Bulgarian: коля́но (bg) n (koljáno)
• Burmese: ဒူး (my) (du:)
• Cappadocian Greek: γόνατο (gónato)
• Catalan: genoll (ca) m
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⴰⴼⵓⴷ m (afud)
• Central Melanau: bukou
• Chamicuro: melo'ti
• Chechen: гола (gola)
• Cherokee: ᎧᏂᎨᏂ (kanigeni)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 膝頭哥, 膝头哥 (sat¹ tau⁴ go¹), 膝頭, 膝头 (sat¹ tau⁴)

  Mandarin: 膝 (zh) (xī), 膝蓋 (zh), 膝盖 (zh) (xīgài)

• Coptic: ⲕⲉⲗⲓ f (keli), ⲫⲁⲧ pl (phat)
• Corsican: ghjinochju (co) m
• Cree: please add this translation if you can
• Crimean Tatar: tiz
• Czech: koleno (cs) n
• Dalmatian: denacle pl
• Danish: knæ (da)
• Daur: tolcig
• Dongxiang: odou
• Dutch: knie (nl) f
• Emilian: źnòć m
• Esperanto: genuo (eo)
• Estonian: põlv (et)
• Faroese: knæ n
• Finnish: polvi (fi)
• French: genou (fr) m

  Old French: genoill m

• Friulian: zenoli m, genoli m
• Galician: xeonllo (gl) m
• Gallurese: ghinocchiu
• Georgian: მუხლი (muxli)
• German: Knie (de) n

  Alemannic German: Chnüü n

• Gothic: 𐌺𐌽𐌹𐌿 n (kniu)
• Greek: γόνατο (el) n (gónato)

  Ancient: γόνυ n (gónu)

• Gujarati: ઘૂંટણ (ghū̃ṭaṇ)
• Haitian Creole: jenou
• Hausa: gwiwa
• Hawaiian: kuli
• Hebrew: בֶּרֶךְ‎ (he) f (bérekh)
• Hindi: घुटना (hi) m (ghuṭnā)
• Hittite: 𒄀𒉡 (ge-nu)
• Hopi: tamö
• Hungarian: térd (hu)
• Icelandic: hné (is) n, kné (is) n
• Ido: genuo (io)
• Indonesian: lutut (id), dengkul (id)
• Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
• Interlingue: genú
• Iranun: leb
• Irish: glúin (ga) f

  Old Irish: glún f

• Istriot: zanucio m
• Istro-Romanian: jeruncľu
• Italian: ginocchio (it)
• Japanese: 膝 (ja) (ひざ, hiza)
• Kalmyk: өвдг (övdg)
• Kannada: ಮೊಣಕಾಲು (kn) (moṇakālu)
• Kashubian: kòlano n
• Kazakh: тізе (kk) (tize)
• Khmer: ជង្គង់ (km) (chʊəngkʊəng)
• Kimaragang: totud
• Korean: 무릎 (ko) (mureup)
• Kurdish: çok (ku)
• Kyrgyz: тизе (ky) (tize)
• Lao: ຫົວເຂົ່າ (lo) (hūa khao)
• Latgalian: ceļs m
• Latin: genu (la), geniculum
• Latvian: celis (lv) m
• Laz: please add this translation if you can
• Limburgish: kneen (li) m
• Lithuanian: kelis m
• Lotud: totud, otud
• Low German: Knee n
• Luxembourgish: Knéi m
• Macedonian: колено (koleno)

• Malay: lutut, tuhut, dengkul
• Malayalam: കാൽമുട്ട് (kālmuṭṭŭ)
• Maltese: irkoppa
• Manchu: ᡨᠣᠪᡤᡳᡟᠠ (tobgiya)
• Mandinka: kumbaliŋo
• Mangghuer: bodo
• Manx: glioon f
• Maore Comorian: gunguni class 5/6
• Maori: please add this translation if you can
• Marathi: गुडघा (guḍghā)
• Megleno-Romanian: zinucľu
• Mirandese: zinolho
• Mon: please add this translation if you can
• Mongghul: yiidog
• Mongolian: өвдөг (mn) (övdög)
• Navajo: agod
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Newari: please add this translation if you can
• Ngazidja Comorian: gunguno class 5/6, gungunu class 5/6
• Norman: g'nou m
• Norwegian: kne (no) n
• Nottoway-Meherrin: sunsheke
• Novial: please add this translation if you can
• Occitan: genolh (oc)
• Ojibwe: ogidig
• Old Church Slavonic: колѣно n (kolěno)
• Old East Slavic: колѣно n (kolěno)
• Old English: cnēo n
• Oriya: ଆଣ୍ଠୁ (aṇṭhu)
• Ossetian: уӕраг (wærag), зоныг (zonyg)
• Ottoman Turkish: زانو‎ (zanû), دز‎ (diz), ديز‎ (dyz)
• Pashto: زنګون‎ (zangun)
• Persian: زانو‎ (fa) (zânu)
• Pitjantjatjara: muṯi
• Polish: kolano (pl) n
• Pontic Greek: γόνοτο (gonoto)
• Portuguese: joelho (pt) m
• Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
• Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can
• Romagnol: znoc
• Romanian: genunchi (ro)
• Romansch: schanugl m, schnuogl m
• Rungus: otud
• Russian: коле́но (ru) n (koléno)
• Sabah Bisaya: otud
• Sanskrit: जानु (sa) n (jānu)
• Scottish Gaelic: glùn f, glùin f
• Sebop: lep
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко̀љено n (Ijekavian), ко̀лено n (Ekavian)

  Roman: kòljeno (sh) n (Ijekavian), kòleno (sh) n (Ekavian)

• Sinhalese: දණ (si) (daṇa)
• Slovak: koleno (sk) n
• Slovene: koleno (sl) n
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kóleno n

  Upper Sorbian: koleno n

• Southern Altai: тизе (tize)
• Spanish: rodilla (es) f, hinojo (es) m
• Sundanese: teku
• Svan: ღულა̈ჲ (ɣuläy)
• Swahili: goti (sw)
• Swedish: knä (sv) n
• Tagal Murut: atur
• Tagalog: tuhod
• Tajik: зону (tg) (zonu)
• Tambunan Dusun: totud
• Tamil: முழங்கால் (ta) (muḻaṅkāl)
• Tatar: тез (tt) (tez)
• Telugu: మోకాలు (te) (mōkālu)
• Thai: เข่า (th) (kào), หัวเข่า (th) (hǔua-kào)
• Tibetan: པུས་མོ (pus mo)
• Timugon Murut: atur
• Tiruray: tur
• Tocharian A: kanweṃ pl
• Tocharian B: keni pl
• Tok Pisin: skru, skru bilong lek
• Tsakonian: γου̃να (guna)
• Turkish: diz (tr)
• Turkmen: dyz
• Tuvan: дискек (dïskäk)
• Udmurt: пыдес (pydes)
• Ukrainian: колі́но (uk) n (kolíno)
• Urdu: گھٹنا‎ m (ghuṭnā)
• Uyghur: تىز‎ (tiz)
• Uzbek: tizza (uz)
• Venetian: zenocio
• Vietnamese: đầu gối
• Volapük: kien (vo)
• Walloon: djno (wa) m, djino (wa) m
• Welsh: pen-glin (cy) m, f, pen-lin (cy) f, glin m
• West Coast Bajau: tu'ut
• West Frisian: knibbel
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Winnebago: huuporo
• Wolof: óom
• Xhosa: idolo
• Yagnobi: зонк
• Yiddish: קני‎ (kni)
• Zazaki: çoq
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can
• Zulu: idolo (zu) class 5/6

carpal joint of a horse or related animal

• Finnish: etupolvi

part of a garment

• Finnish: polvi (fi)

• German: Knie (de) n

shipbuilding: piece of timber or metal formed with an angle

• Finnish: polvi (fi)

act of kneeling

• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: ברכא‎ f (birkā)

  Syriac: ܒܘܪܟܐ‎ f (burkā)

• Finnish: polvistuminen (fi)
• Galician: axeonllarse
• German: Kniefall (de) m

any knee-shaped item or sharp angle in a line

• Finnish: polvi (fi)

blow made with the knee — see kneeing

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} gju (sq) m
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} glin (br) m
• Ewe: ^{(please verify)} klo n
• Gujarati: ^{(please verify)} ગોઠણ (goṭhaṇ)
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} genuo (io)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} geniculo, ^{(please verify)} genu
• Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} چۆک‎ (ku) (çok)

• Maori: ^{(please verify)} pona
• Northern Sami: ^{(please verify)} čibbi
• Pitjantjatjara: ^{(please verify)} muṯi
• Tagalog: ^{(please verify)} tuhod
• Tamil: ^{(please verify)} முழங்கால் மூட்டு (muḻaṅkāl mūṭṭu)
• Taos: ^{(please verify)} xų̀p’íną

Verb

knee (third-person singular simple present knees, present participle kneeing, simple past and past participle kneed)

1. (transitive, archaic) To kneel to.
   • 1605: I could as well be brought / To knee his throne and, squire-like, pension beg / To keep base life afoot. — William Shakespeare, King Lear II.ii
2. (transitive) To poke or strike with the knee.

Anagrams

• Enke, Keen, keen, kene, kène, neek

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Middle English

Noun

knee

1. Alternative form of kne