Etymology

knout

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Today it means: A leather scourge (multi-tail whip), in the severe version known as 'great knout' with metal weights on each tongue, notoriously used in imperial Russia. Full definition →

French knout ← Russian кнут ← Old East Slavic кнутъ
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The story

  1. Old Norse · derived fromknútr“knot in a cord”
  2. Old East Slavic · derived fromкнутъ
  3. Russian · derived fromкнут
  4. French · borrowed fromknout
  5. English todayknout

Via French knout from Russian кнут (knut), from Old East Slavic кнутъ (knutŭ), from Old Norse knútr (“knot in a cord”). Doublet of knot, node, and nodus.

Words from the same roots

Old Norseknútr all →

KnottCanuteCnutvalknut

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.