knit

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English knitten, also knutten and knetten,^[2][3] inherited from Old English cnyttan (“to tie with a knot, bind, fasten”),^{[4][5][3][6][7]} from Proto-Germanic *knuttjan,^[5][4][8] a verb formed from the stem of cnotta (“knot”), the source of knot.^[4][5][6][9] It is related to Middle Dutch knutten (“to knot”), dialectal German knütten (“to knit”), Middle Low German knütten, Middle High German knützen (“to squeeze, press”) and Old Norse knytja (“to bind together, knot”).^{[4][5][3][9][8]}

Earliest recorded meaning

To tie in or with a knot; to bind or fasten: about 1000, in Ælfric's Grammar.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From tying knots the verb came to mean joining or uniting things closely;^[10][3] Barnhart dates this figurative use to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales,^[3] where knitten occurs 32 times.^[11] Chaucer is also the first to speak of knitting the brows, drawing them together in a frown (about 1385).^[4][12][5] A Middle English sense, to knot string into the open meshes of a net (about 1290 to 1687), led to the modern one,^[4][10] making a garment by looping yarn with needles, which is first recorded in Palsgrave's French–English dictionary of 1530.^[4][3][5] The intransitive sense "to become compact or firm" is recorded from 1605, in Bacon,^[4][5] and the verb is now used of a broken bone joining together as it heals.^[13] The old sense "tie in a knot" survives only in archaic and dialect use.^[4][14] In Scots and northern English dialects the past tense could be knat or knet, and in Hampshire to be knit up with cold was to be doubled up by it.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old English cnyttan, to tie, bind.^[3][4]
• c. 1290 – to knot string into a net (obsolete by 1687).^[4]
• c. 1385 – to knit the brows; to join closely.^[4][3]
• 1530 – to make a garment by looping yarn on needles.^[4][3][5]
• 1587 – adjective knit, made by knitting.^[4]
• 1603 – noun, knitted work, the style of knitting.^[4]
• 1605 – to grow together, become firm.^[4]
• 1938 – noun, a knitted garment.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a garment or fabric by interlocking loops of yarn with knitting needles or a machine: She knitted a scarf for her nephew.^[13][14][4]
2. To do knitting.^[13][4]
3. To join or unite closely: The shared hardship knit the villagers together.^[13][14][4]
4. Of a broken bone, to grow together and heal.^[13][4]
5. To draw the brows together in a frown.^[13][14][4]
6. To make a knit stitch, as opposed to a purl stitch.^[4]
7. (archaic) To tie in a knot; to fasten with knots.^[14][4]

Noun

1. Knitted fabric or a knitted garment.^[14][4]
2. A style of knitting, or a knit stitch.^[14][4]

Word family

• knitter
• knittable
• interknit
• reknit
• close-knit
• knitting
• knitwear
• tight-knit

Related words

• knot

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)