knaw

English

Etymology 1

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Verb

knaw (third-person singular simple present knaws, present participle knawing, simple past and past participle knawed)

1. Archaic spelling of gnaw.

Etymology 2

Verb

knaw (third-person singular simple present knaws, present participle knawing, simple past knawed, past participle knawn)

1. Nonstandard form of know.

Anagrams

• wank, Wank, kwan, kawn, Kwan

Middle English

Noun

knaw

1. Alternative form of knave

Middle Welsh

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Old Irish cnáim (“bone”),^[1] but at any rate ultimately from Proto-Celtic *knāmis, from Proto-Indo-European *kónh₂m (“leg”). Cognate with Ancient Greek κνήμη (knḗmē, “tibia”) and English ham.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /knau̯/

Noun

knaw m (plural kneu or knouein)

1. bone
2. skull

Descendants

• ⇒ Welsh: pencnaw (“end of a bone”)

Mutation

Middle Welsh mutation
Radical	Soft	Nasal	Aspirate
knaw	gnaw	knaw / chnaw pronounced with /ŋ̊-/	chnaw
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

1. Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 211

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “cnaw”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies