Etymologically
Log in

knob

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 10:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /nɒb/, /nɑb/[1]

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

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