Etymograph

English

knot

Knot comes from Middle English knotte ‘knot, tie’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gnod- ‘to bind’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gnod-1‘to bind’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*knuttô1‘a knot’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*knottō1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cnotta1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500knotte1‘knot, tie’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592knot1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English knot
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “[I come] to crave a league of amity, And…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gnod-Wiktionary, English knot‘to bind’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*knuttôWiktionary, English knot‘a knot’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*knottōWiktionary, English knotreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cnottaWiktionary, English knot
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500knotteWiktionary, English knot‘knot, tie’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592knotWiktionary, English knot. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “[I come] to crave a league of amity, And…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gnod- ‘to bind’

knitting, knitter, 3 more

through Proto-Germanic *knuttô ‘a knot’

knit, 6 more

Today it means

noun A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “knot”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gnod- / knot

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