knob

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English knobbe, also knobe and nobbe,^[2][3] probably borrowed from Middle Low German knobbe (“knot in wood, knob, bud”),^{[4][5][6][7][8][2]} and, according to the OED, partly from the related regional Dutch knobbe of the southern and eastern Netherlands; the Middle Low German word is a variant of knubbe.^[4] Etymonline is less definite and says Scandinavian or German.^[9] Cognates include Middle Dutch cnoppe and modern Dutch knop, Old Frisian knopp, Old High German knopf, German Knopf (“button”), Norwegian knubb (“block of wood”) and Old Norse knyfill (“short horn”).^[3][9][10] Barnhart suggests a further link outside Germanic with Old Irish gnobh (“gnarl”) and Lithuanian gniáubti (“to surround, embrace”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnubh-.^[3] The word is related to knop, knub and nub,^{[11][12][5][10]} and the slang nob for the head goes back to it.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A rounded lump or swelling, especially on the skin: Barnhart dates knobe to 1373,^[3] and the OED's first quotation is Chaucer's General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, in a manuscript of about 1405 (composed about 1387–95);^[4][13] the MED's senses include a knot, a knot in a tree, a bulge or hump, and a lump in the flesh.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From a lump on the body the word spread to a knot on a tree (1440) and to any small rounded bump or projection at the end of something (before 1450);^[4] in architecture a knob is a rounded ornament or boss (1610).^[4] In the 17th century it came to mean a rounded hill or knoll (before 1622), a use now chiefly North American,^[4][9] and a small lump of a substance such as coal.^[4][7] The familiar rounded handle of a door or drawer is recorded from 1756, and a control knob on an instrument from about 1750, now especially on electrical equipment.^[4] In slang a knob was the clitoris in 1660 and later the head;^[14][7] Collins records it in British slang for the penis, and the phrase the same to you with knobs on, the same but more so.^[15] The verb knob, to cover with knobs, is recorded from 1549.^[4]

Timeline

• 1373 – knobe, a rounded lump (OED: c. 1405, Chaucer).^[3][4]
• 1440 – a knot on a tree.^[4]
• before 1450 – a small rounded bump or projection.^[4]
• 1549 – the verb, to cover with knobs.^[4]
• 1610 – in architecture, a rounded ornament or boss.^[4]
• before 1622 – a rounded hill, a knoll (Etymonline: 1640s).^[4][9]
• 1660 – slang, the clitoris.^[14]
• c. 1750 – a knob for adjusting an instrument.^[4]
• 1756 – a rounded door or drawer handle.^[4]
• 1848 – an ornament on a bedpost.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rounded handle for opening a door or drawer.^[15][10][4]
2. A small round control, turned or pressed to adjust a machine or device: She turned the volume knob down.^[4][10]
3. A rounded lump or protuberance on a surface or at the end of something, such as a knot on a tree trunk.^[15][10][4]
4. (chiefly North American) A rounded hill or knoll.^[15][10][4]
5. A small lump of a substance, such as coal.^[4][7]
6. (British, vulgar slang) The penis.^[15]

Word family

• knobbed
• knobby
• knoblike
• knobble
• doorknob
• knob lock

Related words

• knop
• knub
• nub
• nob
• knot

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
14. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins