kneel

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English knelen, early cneolen,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English cnēowlian (“to kneel”),^[3][5][6][7] a derivative of cnēow (“knee”), the source of knee.^[3][4][8][9] It is cognate with Middle Low German knēlen, Middle Dutch cnielen and Dutch knielen.^{[4][3][8][10]} Etymonline traces it to Proto-Germanic *knewljan, and lists Gothic 𐌺𐌽𐌿𐍃𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (knussjan, “to kneel”) among its relatives;^[6] the root of knee is Proto-Indo-European *genu- (“knee; angle”).^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To fall or rest on the knees: Old English, in the Canons of Edgar.^[3][7] Barnhart dates the Old English verb apparently before 1000, and finds the Middle English cnelen, cneolen probably before 1200 in Laȝamon and the Ancrene Riwle.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Kneel down is recorded from before 1225,^[3] and the reflexive use, to kneel oneself, from about 1430, now archaic.^[3] Chaucer used the verb 26 times.^[11] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to perform the act of genuflection; to bend the knee".^[12] The past tense and participle knelt are late, from the 19th century, and apparently of southern origin, formed on the model of feel, felt.^[3][6]

Timeline

• Old English – to fall on the knees.^[3]
• before 1225 – kneel down.^[3]
• c. 1430 – reflexive use (now archaic).^[3]
• 19th century – the past form knelt.^[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To go down on or rest on one's knees or one knee, often with down: They knelt by the grave.^{[13][10][3][14]}

Noun

1. An act of kneeling, or the position of kneeling.^[10][13]

Word family

• kneelingly
• kneeler
• kneeling bus

Related words

• knee
• genuflect

Usage notes

The past tense and past participle are knelt or kneeled.^[13][10][14] In the American Gulf states, a dialect survey found 315 speakers using knelt and 157 kneeled.^[15]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press