Added 2 October 2026

knee

/niː/ noun

In Latin: genu, geniculum Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about knee at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.
Penny was wearing a miniskirt, so she skinned her exposed knees when she fell.
In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in humans.
In birds: The tarsal joint, uniting the tarsometatarsus and the tibiotarsus (homologous to the human ankle). The joint uniting the tibiotarsus and the femur, typically hidden beneath plumage.

To kneel to.
To poke or strike with the knee.
When I blocked her from leaving, she kneed me in the groin.
To move on the knees; to use the knees to move.

Inherited from Middle English kne, from Old English cnēow, from Proto-West Germanic *kneu, from Proto-Germanic *knewą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéw-o-m, a thematic derivative of *ǵónu. See also West Frisian knibbel, Low German Knee, Knie, Dutch knie, German Knie, Danish knæ, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk kne, Swedish knä; also Hittite 𒄀𒉡 (genu), Latin genū, Tocharian A kanweṃ (dual), Tocharian B kenī, Ancient Greek γόνυ (gónu, “knee”), γωνία (gōnía, “corner, angle”), Welsh glin (“knee”), Old Armenian ծունր (cunr), Avestan 𐬲𐬥𐬎𐬨 (žnum), Sanskrit जानु (jā́nu). The obsolete plural kneen is from Middle English kneen, knen, kneon, kneuwene.