Etymologically
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kneel

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Pronunciation

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

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