knuckle

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English knokel, also knokil,^[2][3][4][5] which is not recorded in Old English.^[3][6] The OED treats it as a word inherited from Germanic,^[2] while the Shorter Oxford, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Ayto derive it from Middle Low German knökel or a related form.^[7][8][9] The cognates are Old Frisian knokele, Middle Dutch cnockel (modern kneukel) and Middle High German knüchel (modern Knöchel),^{[2][4][10][11]} all apparently diminutives, literally "little bone", of a word for bone found in knoke, Dutch knok and Middle High German knoche, modern Knochen.^{[2][10][4][3]} Köbler reconstructs Proto-Germanic *knukilaz (“knuckle”),^[12] and Etymonline a Germanic root Proto-Germanic *knuk- (“bone”), which has no simple form in English.^[3] The Merriam-Webster Unabridged relates the group to Old English cnycled (“bent”), Old Norse knykill (“small knot”) and cnotta, the source of knot;^[13] the Shorter Oxford and Cresswell suggest that it may ultimately be related to knee.^[7][14] The verb, from 1735, is formed from the noun.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The end of a bone at a joint, which forms a rounded bump when the joint is bent, as at the knee, the elbow or the backbone: about 1375.^[2][9] The Middle English Dictionary also records the sense of a fist and of a morbid lump or swelling,^[5][3] and Etymonline dates the word to the mid-14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

A knuckle could at first be any joint, including the knee, the elbow and the joints of the spine; only gradually was the word narrowed to the joints of the fingers,^[9][14][2] a sense recorded from about 1440 in the Promptorium Parvulorum.^[2][5] The older general sense died out in the 17th century.^[2] Trench noted that the word had formerly not been limited to the smaller joints of the hand, as Knöchel is still used of any joint in German.^[15] From 1626 it was used of the joint of a four-legged animal, and so of a cut of meat such as a knuckle of veal or ham.^[2][16] Other things shaped like a knuckle followed: a bend of the intestine (1601), an angle in ship's timbers (1805) and the projecting part of a hinge through which the pin runs (1825).^[2] The verb came from the game of marbles: in 1735 to knuckle down was to set one's knuckles on the ground before shooting the marble,^[2][3][8][9] and in the same year knuckle down or knuckle under also meant to give in or submit.^[2][17] Weekley took knuckle under to stand for an earlier knock under,^[6] while Etymonline explains it from the old sense of the knee, as if "to kneel".^[3] Knuckle down in the sense of applying oneself seriously to a task is recorded in American English from 1864, again from marbles.^[3][2][8] The phrase near the knuckle, close to the limits of what is allowed and later of decency, dates from the late 19th century.^[14][2] In thieves' slang a knuckle was a pickpocket, from 1777.^[17][2]

Timeline

• c. 1375 – the rounded end of a bone at a joint (obsolete by 1658).^[2]
• c. 1440 – a finger joint, especially one at the root of a finger.^[2][5]
• 1601 – a projecting bend of the intestine.^[2]
• 1626 – the joint of a four-legged animal, and a cut of meat from it.^[2]
• 1735 – verb, to set the knuckles down in playing marbles; to give in, submit (knuckle down, knuckle under).^[2][13]
• 1777 – slang, a pickpocket.^[17]
• 1792 – to rub, tap or strike with the knuckles.^[2]
• 1825 – the projecting part of a hinge.^[2]
• 1864 – knuckle down, to apply oneself earnestly, in American English.^[3][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A joint of a finger, especially one of those joining the fingers to the hand: She rapped on the window with her knuckles.^[16][13][2]
2. The joint of a pig's or calf's leg just above or below the knee or hock, or a cut of meat taken from it: a knuckle of veal.^[16][13][2]
3. The cylindrical part of a hinge through which the pin passes.^[16][2]
4. near the knuckle: (informal) close to the limit of what is acceptable, especially in decency.^[16][2][14]

Verb

1. knuckle down: to set to work seriously and steadily.^[2][3][8]
2. knuckle under (or to): to give in or submit.^[13][2]
3. To rub, press or strike with the knuckles.^[16][2]
4. In marbles, to shoot a marble from the bent forefinger with the thumb, with the knuckles on the ground.^[2][16]

Word family

• knuckled
• knuckly
• knuckleball
• knucklebone
• knuckler
• knucklehead
• knuckle joint
• knuckle sandwich

Related words

• knee
• knot
• knuckle-duster

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d 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)
6. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
13. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
16. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com