Friday, June 22, 2012

Are you a Knave?

There aren't many words in English which start with "KN." I've been wondering where the K comes from in Knave, Knight, Knack, Knicknack, Knee, and Knife. They seem superflous somhow, but then again, without the K, they look very strange: nave, nack, nee, nife, and night.
Knight has a lot of silent letters. It should really be spelled "nite."

Browsing thru these words I see that they come from Old High German.

Knave means a male servant, or a tricky deceitful person. I love the synonyms: rapscallion and scoundrel!

Call me naive, but at least I'm not a knave!

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