Etymology

knit

K5N1I1T1

Today it means: To turn thread or yarn into a piece of fabric by forming loops that are pulled through each other. This can be done by hand with needles or by machine. Full definition →

Middle English knytten ← Old English cnyttan ← Proto-West Germanic *knuttijan
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gnod-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ǵónu
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ǵnu-tonder.?
  4. Proto-Germanic*knuttô
  5. Proto-Germanic*knuttijaną
  6. Proto-West Germanic*knuttijan
  7. Old Englishcnyttan
  8. Middle Englishknytten
  9. English todayknit

Inherited from Middle English knytten, from Old English cnyttan, from Proto-West Germanic *knuttijan, from Proto-Germanic *knuttijaną, from *knuttô + *-janą. Cognate with Low German knütten and Old Norse knýta (whence Danish knytte, Norwegian Nynorsk knyta). More at knot.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.