know

English Online Dictionary. What means know‎? What does know mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /nəʊ/
• (General American) enPR: nō, IPA^(key): /noʊ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): [nəʉ]
• Rhymes: -əʊ
• Homophones: no, noh

Etymology 1

From Middle English knowen, from Old English cnāwan (“to know, perceive, recognise”), from Proto-West Germanic *knāan, from Proto-Germanic *knēaną (“to know”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”).

Alternative forms

• knowe (obsolete)

Verb

know (third-person singular simple present knows, present participle knowing, simple past knew or (nonstandard) knowed, past participle known or (colloquial and nonstandard) knew)

1. (transitive) To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that.

2. (intransitive) To be or become aware or cognizant.
3. (transitive) To be aware of; to be cognizant of.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To be acquainted (with another person).
5. (transitive) To be acquainted or familiar with; to have encountered.
   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Marsha is my roommate. — I know Marsha. She is nice.

   1. (transitive, archaic, biblical, euphemistic) To have sexual relations with. This meaning normally specified in modern English as e.g. to ’know someone in the biblical sense’ or to ‘know biblically.’
6. (transitive) To experience.
7. To understand or have a grasp of through experience or study.
8. (transitive) To be able to distinguish, to discern, particularly by contrast or comparison; to recognize the nature of.
   • 1980, Armored and mechanized brigade operations, p.3−29:

     Flares do not know friend from foe and so illuminate both. Changes in wind direction can result in flare exposure of the attacker while defenders hide in the shadows.

9. (transitive) To recognize as the same (as someone or something previously encountered) after an absence or change.
10. (intransitive) To have knowledge; to have information, be informed.
    • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

      Marsha knows.

11. (transitive) To be able to play or perform (a song or other piece of music).

12. (transitive) To have indexed and have information about within one's database.
13. (transitive, philosophy) To maintain (a belief, a position) subject to a given philosophical definition of knowledge; to hold a justified true belief.

Usage notes

• This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs
• “Knowen” is found in some old texts as the past participle.
• In some old texts, the form “know to [verb]” rather than “know how to [verb]” is found, e.g. Milton wrote: “he knew himself to sing, and build the lofty rhymes”.

Conjugation

Quotations

Synonyms

• (have sexual relations with): coitize, go to bed with, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

Hyponyms

• grok

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

know (uncountable)

1. (rare) Knowledge; the state of knowing.
2. Knowledge; the state of knowing. (Now confined to the fixed phrase in the know.)

Derived terms

• in the know

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “know”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “know”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Etymology 2

Noun

know (plural knows)

1. Alternative form of knowe (“hill, knoll”)

Etymology 3

Shortening of you know.

Pronunciation

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): [noː˨˦], [-oʊ-], [ˈno(˧˨)]

Particle

know

1. (Singlish) Used at the end of a sentence to draw attention to information the speaker thinks the listener should keep in mind.

2. (Singlish) Used at the end a declarative sentence to emphasize it.

See also

• (Singlish particles): ah, lah, leh, liao, lor, mah, meh, one, sia, what

References

• Wee, Lionel (2003) “The birth of a particle: know in Colloquial Singapore English”, in World Englishes, volume 22, number 1, →DOI, pages 5–13

Anagrams

• Kwon, wonk

Cornish

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *know, from Proto-Celtic *knūs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [knoʊ]

Noun

know pl (singulative knowen or knofen)

1. nuts

Derived terms

• know dor (“peanuts”)
• know Frynk (“walnuts”)
• know koko (“coconuts”)
• know koll (“hazelnuts”)
• know muskat (“nutmeg”)
• know toos (“doughnuts”)
• plisk know (“nutshells”)

Mutation

Middle English

Noun

know

1. Alternative form of kne

Yola

Verb

know

1. Alternative form of knouth

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 44