know - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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”).

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.
    • 1985 April 17, Frank Herbert, 15:46 from the start, in Frank Herbert speaking at UCLA 4/17/1985‎[1], UCLACommStudies, archived from the original on 10 February 2017:
      Question things. I have the most fun when I'm writing questioning things that people do not question- the assumptions that everybody knows are true.
    • 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section II, page 24:
      '[…] I know whether a boy is telling me the truth or not.'
      'Thank you, sir.'
      Did he hell. They never bloody did.
      I know that I’m right and you’re wrong.
      He knew something terrible was going to happen.
  2. (intransitive) To be or become aware or cognizant.
    Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew.
    Malware's sometimes been known to sit dormant for a long time.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, “A whimsical Adventure which befel the Squire, with the distressed Situation of _Sophia_”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume VI, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XVI, page 7:
      ‘A Gentleman!’ quoth the Squire, ‘who the Devil can he be? Do, Doctor, go down and ſee who ’tis. Mr. Blifil can hardly be come to town yet.—Go down, do, and know what his Buſineſs is.[’]
  3. (transitive) To be aware of; to be cognizant of.
    Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew.
    She knows where I live.
    I knew he was upset, but I didn't understand why.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 18:
      I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
    • 2019 September 12, “Scientists discover water, temperature conditions right for life at planet called K2-18b outside solar system”, in South China Morning Post‎[2], sourced from Associated Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 September 2019, Europe‎[3]:
      Discovered in 2015, the planet known as K2-18b is twice the size of Earth with eight times the mass. While it is thought to be rocky, no one knows if water’s flowing on the surface.
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To be acquainted (with another person).
  5. (transitive) To be acquainted or familiar with; to have encountered.
    I know your mother, but I've never met your father.
    Borja, do you know Pilar? - Sure, we've actually met before.
    I got to know her during the pandemic, so we've known each other for years now.
    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'.
      • 1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Genesis IIII:1, folio 2, verso:
        AFterwarde the man knewe Heuáh his wife, which cõceiued & bare Káin, & ſaid, I haue obteined a man by yͤ Lord.
      • 1939, Dorothy Parker, “Horsie,”, in Here lies: The collected stories of Dorothy Parker‎[4]:
        Now Gerald had never thought of her having a mother. Then there must have been a father, too, some time. And Miss Wilmarth existed because two people once had loved and known. It was not a thought to dwell upon.
      • 2003 May 11, Garland Testa, 19:37 from the start, in Gary McCarver, director, Night and Deity (King of the Hill), season 7, episode 21, spoken by Dale Gribble (Johnny Hardwick), 20th Century Fox:
        Wait a second. Are you… attempting to know me?
  6. (transitive) To experience.
    Their relationship knew ups and downs.
    • 1991, Irvin Haas, Historic Homes of the American Presidents, page 155:
      The Truman family knew good times and bad, […].
  7. To understand or have a grasp of through experience or study.
    Let me do it. I know how it works.
    She knows how to swim.
    His mother tongue is Italian, but he also knows French and English.
    She knows chemistry better than anybody else.
    Know your enemy and know yourself.
    • 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
      The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure.
  8. (transitive) To be able to distinguish, to discern, particularly by contrast or comparison; to recognize the nature of.
    to know a person's face or figure
    to know right from wrong
    I wouldn't know one from the other.
    • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, “The Shadow of the Bat”, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 6:
      The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
    • 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.
    It is vital that he not know.
    She knew of our plan.
    He knows about 19th century politics.
  1. (transitive) To be able to play or perform (a song or other piece of music).
    Do you know "Blueberry Hill"?
  2. (transitive) To have indexed and have information about within one's database.
  1. (transitive, philosophy) To maintain (a belief, a position) subject to a given philosophical definition of knowledge; to hold a justified true belief.

be justifiably certain or sure about (something true)

be acquainted or familiar with

have knowledge of

understand (a subject)

have sexual relations with

be informed about

experience

Translations to be checked

know (uncountable)

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

know (plural knows)

  1. Alternative form of knowe (“hill, knoll”).
    • 1868, History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, volumes 4-5, page 223:
      Owing to increasing numbers and consequent want of room for nestage, the old birds drove away the younger ones, who took refuge in their present abode at Fox's Know, where they have been located about six years.

Shortening of you know (sense 4)—Singapore English favours pro-drop constructions (Wee, 2003).

know

  1. (Singlish) Used at the end of a sentence to draw attention to information one thinks the listener should keep in mind.
    Make sure you water the plants, know…
    I was a naval diver know!
    • 2011, James Khoo, directed by James Khoo, Hentak Kaki‎[6] (short film), spoken by SSG (NS) Rajendran (P. Muruganandan / Richard Muru):
      Are you sure they’re gonna give you someting more kilat? I think ah, they put you here to hentak kaki, know!
    • 2013, Pablo Tan, “Gang Clash” (00:05:25 from the start), in Crimewatch, season 27, episode 3, spoken by Ah Chye, Ang Bock Huat (Charlie Goh, Tristan Goh), via Channel 5 (Mediacorp):
      Ah Chye (Charlie Goh): Eh hello, this is my territory know?
      Ang Bock Huat (Tristan Goh): Your territory? You think Scorpion very strong is it?

Cannot be used in conjunction with other sentence-final discourse particles.

Discourse particles in colloquial Singaporean and Malaysian English
⟵ More assertiveLess assertive ⟶
Objection what Assertive emphasis lah1–14 Self-evident answer lor2–3 Resignation lor1, ah6 Uncertainty leh1–2
Self-evident reason mah Declarative emphasis leh3–6, one1–3, hor1, know, nia, only Discontent; shock; coarseness sia Agreement-seeking hor2 Confirmation-seeking ah1–3, hah1–3
Skepticism meh Confident speculation ba2 Tentative judgment leh7–11, ba1
Non-pragmatic
Aspectual liao, already
References Gupta, A. F. (1992), “The pragmatic particles of Singapore colloquial English”, in Journal of Pragmatics, volume 18, number 1, →DOI

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

know (collective, singulative knowen f)

  1. nuts

Mutation of know

radical soft aspirate hard mixed
know gnow unchanged unchanged unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Cornish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

know

  1. alternative form of kne

know

  1. alternative form of knouth
    • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:
      Doost thou know fidi is a hamaron?
      Do you know where is the horse-collar?