know

know · verb, noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ǵneh₃-“to know”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*knēaną“to know”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*knāan
4. Old English · inherited fromcnāwan“to know, perceive, recognise”
5. Middle English · inherited fromknowen
6. English todayknow

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”). Cognates * from Proto-Germanic: Scots knaw (“to know, recognise”), Icelandic knega (“to know, know how to, be able”), Old High German knājan (“to know, recognise”), Old Norse kná (“to know how”). Remotely related also Dutch and German kennen, West Frisian kenne (see English ken). * from Indo-European: Latin gnoscō, Latin cognoscō (Spanish conocer, French connaître, Romanian cunoaște, Italian conoscere, Portuguese conhecer), Ancient Greek γνωρίζω (gnōrízō, “to know”) and γνῶσις (gnôsis, “knowledge”), Albanian njoh (“to know, recognise”), Russian знать (znatʹ, “to know”), Lithuanian žinoti (“to know”), Persian شناختن (šenâxtan, “to know”) and Hindi जानना (jānnā, “to know, understand”).

know · particle²

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

Words from the same roots