Meanings
- dialectalhypercorrectnonstandardnot comparablesometimesknitted, knit
Dey kept warm wide^([sic]) de bed clothes and de knitten clothes dey had.
1941, Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, volume 13, Washington, DC: Library of Congress, →OCLC, page 3332 more examples
With his stick in his hand and his hat of broad brim, / And his comforter red to keep warm his chin, / And his strong knitten gloves and old coat of grey, […]
1858, James Whitaker, “The Old Prayer Book”, in The Village Lyre: A Collection of Fugitive Poems, Leeds: J. Heaton and Sons, page 189The best sculptor might haply be glad to find in a corner some fragment of a clay model on which his fingers were employed before the knuckles were well knitten.
1883, Walter Savage Landor, Imaginary Conversations, volume Fourth Series, Boston: Roberts Brothers, page 268
Origin
From knit + -en (past participle ending of some strong verbs), in mimicry of bitten, sitten (now dialectal), etc.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
knitten. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knitten
“knitten.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knitten. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “knitten,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knitten.
Source: knitten on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.