Skip to the word

Added 9 October 2026

knotty

/ˈnɒti/ adjective

In Latin: nodosus Wiktionary

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

Of string or something stringlike: full of, or tied up, in knots.
Of a part of the body, a tree, etc.: full of knots (knobs or swellings); gnarled, knobbly.
a knotty pine
Complicated or tricky; complex, difficult.
a knotty problem

Origin

From Middle English knotti, knotty (“having a knot in it; full of knots; tied together (?); resembling a knot, knotlike; having knobs or protuberances; bulging, convex; of a tree, branch, etc.: full of knots, gnarled; of a plant cutting to be grafted or planted: full of buds or eyes; having joints (?); having swollen joints; of flesh: glandular; of flesh: granular, lumpy, especially, having many swellings; mangy, scurfy (?); having pimples (?); of cauterization: carried out on glandular tissue; (figuratively) of a question or problem: difficult, intricate”) [and other forms], from knotte (“knot; pattern of intersecting lines; coil of a snake”) (from Old English cnotta (“knot”), from Proto-Ge.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Back to today's word