knokken

First attested in the early 18th century. Probably borrowed from English knock. The simplification of /kn/ to /n/ was already widespread around 1700, but not at all general. (In fact, some northern English dialects retained /kn/ until the recent past.) Moreover, the word may have been borrowed into Dutch some time before its first appearance in writing. Accordingly there is no phonetic objection to English origin. Alternatively, however, it might have been derived from Dutch knok, a variant of knook (“knuckle, bone”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈknɔ.kə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: knok‧ken
• Rhymes: -ɔkən

knokken

1. (informal, intransitive) to brawl, to fight (physically)
2. (informal, transitive) to hit, beat, dust up

• cnoken, knocke, knok, knoke, knokke, knokkyn

From Old English cnocian, from Proto-West Germanic *knokōn, from Proto-Germanic *knukōną. Forms with a short vowel are possibly due to trisyllabic shortening.

• IPA^(key): /ˈknɔkən/, /ˈknɔːkən/, /ˈknɒːkən/

knokken (third-person singular simple present knokketh, present participle knokkynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle knokkedaccel-form=1//3|s|past|ind)

1. To pound; to beat down.
2. To strike (with a weapon or one's head)
3. To knock or rap on (something).
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[1], published c. 1410, Apocalips 3:20, page 118v, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     lo I ſtonde at the doꝛe .· ⁊ knocke if ony man heriþ my voys · ⁊ openeþ þe ȝate to me · I ſhal entre to hym · ⁊ ſoupe with hym · ⁊ he with me

     I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door for me, I'll go and dine with them, and them with me.

4. To beat against the breast.
5. To pulverise; to crush to bits.
6. (rare) To assault; to attack.

• knok

• English: knock
  • → Dutch: knokken; nokken
• Scots: knock, tnock, knack
• Yola: knockt (preterite)

• “knokken, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.