knight

See also: Knight

English

a knight (warrior)

a knight (chess)

Pronunciation

• enPR: nīt, IPA^(key): /naɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪt
• Homophones: night, nite

Etymology 1

From Middle English knight, knyght, kniht, from Old English cniht (“boy, servant”), from Proto-Germanic *knehtaz. Cognate with West Frisian knjocht, Dutch knecht, and German Knecht, all meaning 'servant'.

Alternative forms

• knyght

Noun

knight (plural knights)

1. (historical) A young servant or follower; a trained military attendant in service of a lord.
2. (historical) A minor nobleman with an honourable military rank who had served as a page and squire.
3. (by extension) An armored and mounted warrior of the Middle Ages.

   King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

4. (modern) A person on whom a knighthood has been conferred by a monarch.
5. (literary) A brave, chivalrous and honorable man devoted to a noble cause or love interest.
6. (chess) A chess piece, often in the shape of a horse's head, that is moved two squares in one direction and one at right angles to that direction in a single move, leaping over any intervening pieces.
7. (card games, dated) A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack.
8. (entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Ypthima.

Synonyms

• (chess piece): horse (informal)

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun knight

• belted knight
• knight adventurer
• knight adventurous
• knightage
• Knight Bachelor, knight bachelor
• knight-bairn
• knight-banneret
• knight baronet
• knight brother
• knight caligate of arms
• knight-cross
• knight-errant
• knightess
• knightfully
• knight-head
• knighthood
• knightify
• knight in shining armor, knight in shining armour
• knightless
• knightling
• knightly
• Knight Marshal, knight-marshal
• knight-money
• knight of adventurers
• knight of arms
• Knight of Grace
• knight of industry, knight of the industry
• Knight of Justice
• Knight of Malta
• Knight of Parliament
• Knight of Rhodes
• knight of St Crispin

• Knight of St John
• knight of the carpet
• knight of the chamber
• Knight of the Bath
• knight of the blade
• knight of the brush
• knight of the cleaver
• knight of the collar
• Knight of the Commonty
• knight of the cue
• knight of the elbow
• knight of the field
• Knight of the Garter
• knight of the grammar
• knight of the knife
• knight of the needle
• knight of the order of the fork
• knight of the pen
• knight of the pencil
• knight of the pestle
• knight of the post
• knight of the quill
• knight of the rainbow
• knight of the road
• Knight of the Round Table
• Knight of the Rueful Countenance
• knight of the shears
• Knight of the Shire
• knight of the spigot
• Knight of the Spur

• knight of the square flag
• knight of the stick
• knight of the thimble
• Knight of the Thistle
• knight of the vapour
• knight of the wheel
• knight of the whip
• knight of the whipping-post
• Knight of Windsor
• Knights of Columbus
• Knights of Labor
• Knights of Pythias
• Knightsbridge
• knight's cross
• knight-service
• knight's fee
• knightship
• knight's milfoil
• knight's move
• knight's pondwort
• knight's progress
• knight's star
• knight's water-sengreen
• knight's wort
• knight's woundwort
• Knight Templar
• knight wager
• knight-weed
• knight-wife
• Military Knight of Windsor
• Naval Knights of Windsor
• kanigget

Translations

warrior, especially of the Middle Ages

• Afrikaans: ridder
• Albanian: kalorës (sq) m
• Arabic: فَارِس‎ (ar) m (fāris)
• Armenian: ասպետ (hy) (aspet)
• Aromanian: caballeru m
• Basque: zaldun
• Belarusian: ры́цар m (rýcar), ві́цязь m (vícjazʹ), багаты́р m (bahatýr), лы́цар m (lýcar)
• Breton: marc'heg (br)
• Bulgarian: ри́цар (bg) m (rícar)
• Catalan: cavaller (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 騎士 (zh), 骑士 (zh) (qíshì), 大俠 (zh), 大侠 (zh) (dàxiá), 爵士 (zh) (juéshì)

• Cornish: marghek m, marghoges f
• Czech: rytíř (cs) m, vítěz (cs)
• Danish: ridder (da) c
• Dutch: ridder (nl) m
• Esperanto: kavaliro
• Estonian: rüütel
• Finnish: ritari (fi)
• French: chevalier (fr) m

  Middle French: chevalier m

  Old French: chevalier m

• Friulian: cavalîr m
• Galician: cabaleiro (gl) m, cabaleira f
• Georgian: რაინდი (raindi)
• German: Ritter (de) m
• Greek: ιππότης (el) m (ippótis)
• Hebrew: פָּרָשׁ‎ (he) m (parásh), אַבִּיר‎ (he) m (abír)
• Hungarian: lovag (hu)
• Icelandic: riddari (is) m
• Ido: kavaliero (io)
• Indonesian: ksatria (id)
• Irish: ridire m
• Italian: cavaliere (it) m
• Japanese: 騎士 (ja) (きし, kishi), ナイト (ja) (naito)
• Kazakh: сері (seri)
• Khmer: អស្សឬទ្ធិ (ahsa’ rɨɨ tʰi’)
• Korean: 기사 (ko) (gisa) (騎士 (ko)), 나이트 (naiteu)
• Kurdish: şovalye (ku), siwarî (ku)

  Sorani: سوارا‎ (ku) (swara)

• Latin: eques (la) m
• Latvian: bruņinieks m
• Lithuanian: riteris m
• Low German:

  German Low German: ridder

• Macedonian: витез m (vitez)
• Malay: kesatria
• Maltese: kavallier
• Manx: reejerey
• Maranao: kabayo
• Norwegian: ridder (no)

  Nynorsk: riddar

• Norwegian Bokmål: ridder (no) m
• Old English: ridda m
• Old Occitan: cavaller, cavalier
• Persian: شهسوار‎ (fa) (šahsavâr), شوالیه‎ (fa) (šovâliye)
• Polish: rycerz (pl) m pers, raciądz (pl) m pers
• Portuguese: cavaleiro (pt) m
• Romanian: cavaler (ro) m
• Russian: ры́царь (ru) m (rýcarʹ), ви́тязь (ru) m (vítjazʹ), богаты́рь (ru) m (bogatýrʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: ridire m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: витез m

  Roman: vitez (sh) m

• Sicilian: cavaleri (scn) m
• Slovak: rytier m, víťaz m
• Slovene: vitez (sl) m
• Spanish: caballero (es) m, caballera f
• Swedish: knekt (sv) c, riddare (sv) c
• Tagalog: kabalyero (tl), maginoo
• Thai: อัศวิน (àt-sà-win)
• Turkish: şövalye (tr)
• Ukrainian: ли́цар m (lýcar), ри́цар m (rýcar), ви́тязь m (výtjazʹ), богати́р (uk) m (bohatýr)
• Uyghur: چەۋەنداز‎ (chewendaz)
• Vietnamese: hiệp sĩ
• Welsh: marchog m
• West Frisian: ridder
• Yiddish: ריטער‎ m (riter)

person on whom a knighthood has been conferred

• Armenian: ասպետ (hy) (aspet)
• Basque: zaldun
• Belarusian: ры́цар m (rýcar)
• Bulgarian: ри́цар (bg) m (rícar)
• Catalan: cavaller (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 騎士 (zh), 骑士 (zh) (qíshì)

• Czech: rytíř (cs) m
• Danish: ridder (da) c
• Dutch: ridder (nl) m
• Esperanto: kavaliro
• Finnish: ritari (fi)
• French: chevalier (fr) m
• Galician: cabaleiro (gl) m, cabaleira f
• Georgian: რაინდი (raindi)
• German: Ritter (de) m
• Greek: ιππότης (el) (ippótis)
• Icelandic: riddari (is) m
• Indonesian: ksatria (id)
• Irish: ridire m
• Japanese: 騎士 (ja) (きし, kishi)

• Kazakh: сері (seri)
• Khmer: អស្សឬទ្ធិ (ahsa’ rɨɨ tʰi’)
• Korean: 기사 (ko) (gisa) (騎士 (ko))
• Macedonian: витез m (vitez)
• Norwegian: ridder (no) m
• Polish: rycerz (pl) m pers (ancient), kawaler (pl) m pers (modern)
• Portuguese: cavaleiro (pt) m
• Romanian: cavaler (ro) m
• Russian: ры́царь (ru) m (rýcarʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: ridire m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: витез m

  Roman: vitez (sh) m

• Slovak: rytier m
• Slovene: vitez (sl) m
• Spanish: caballero (es) m, caballera f
• Swedish: riddare (sv) c
• Turkish: şövalye (tr)
• Ukrainian: ли́цар m (lýcar)
• Uyghur: چەۋەنداز‎ (chewendaz), سېر ئۇنۋانى‎ (sër unwani)

chess piece

• Afrikaans: ruiter (af), perd (af)
• Arabic: حِصَان‎ (ar) m (ḥiṣān), فَرَس‎ m (faras)
• Armenian: ձի (hy) (ji)
• Basque: zaldi (eu)
• Belarusian: конь m (konʹ)
• Bengali: ঘোড়া (bn) (ghoṛa)
• Bulgarian: кон (bg) m (kon)
• Catalan: cavall (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 馬, 马 (maa⁵), 騎士, 骑士 (ke⁴ si⁶)

  Mandarin: 馬 (zh), 马 (zh) (mǎ), 騎士 (zh), 骑士 (zh) (qíshì)

• Czech: jezdec (cs) m
• Danish: springer (da) c, hest (da) c
• Dutch: paard (nl) n
• Esperanto: ĉevalo (eo)
• Estonian: ratsu
• Faroese: riddari m
• Finnish: ratsu (fi)
• French: cavalier (fr) m
• Galician: cabalo (gl) m
• Georgian: მხედარი (mxedari)
• German: Springer (de) m, Gaul (de) m, Pferd (de) n, Ross (de) n, Rössel n (South German), Rössl n (South German)
• Greek: ίππος (el) m (íppos), άλογο (el) n (álogo)
• Hebrew: פָּרָשׁ‎ (he) m (parash)
• Hindi: घोड़ा (hi) m (ghoṛā)
• Hungarian: huszár (hu)
• Icelandic: riddari (is) m
• Indonesian: kuda (id)
• Irish: ridire m
• Italian: cavallo (it) m
• Japanese: ナイト (ja) (naito) (in Western chess), 桂馬 (けいま, keima) (in shogi)
• Kashmiri: گُر‎ m (gur)
• Khmer: សេះ (km) (seh)

• Korean: 나이트 (naiteu)
• Luxembourgish: Sprénger m
• Macedonian: коњ m (konj)
• Malay: kuda (ms)
• Maori: toa (mi)
• Middle Persian: SWSYA‎ (asp)
• Mongolian: морь (mn) (morʹ)
• Navajo: hashkééjí naatʼááh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: springer m, hest (no) m

  Nynorsk: springar m, hest m

• Ojibwe: zhiimaaganish
• Persian: اسب‎ (fa) (asb)
• Polish: skoczek (pl) m anim, konik (pl) m anim, koń (pl) m anim
• Portuguese: cavalo (pt) m
• Romanian: cal (ro) m
• Russian: конь (ru) m (konʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: коњ m, скакач m

  Roman: konj (sh) m, skakač (sh) m

• Slovak: jazdec m
• Slovene: konj (sl) m, skakač m
• Spanish: caballo (es) m
• Swedish: springare (sv) c, häst (sv) c
• Thai: ม้า (th) (máa)
• Translingual: ♘, ♞
• Turkish: at (tr)
• Turkmen: at (tk)
• Ukrainian: кінь (uk) m (kinʹ)
• Urdu: گھوڑا‎ m (ghoṛā)
• Uyghur: ئات‎ (ug) (at)
• Yiddish: ריטער‎ m (riter), שפּרינגער‎ m (shpringer), זקן‎ m (zokn)

See also

• Appendix:Chess_pieces

Etymology 2

From Middle English knighten, kniȝten, from the noun. Cognate with Middle High German knehten.

Verb

knight (third-person singular simple present knights, present participle knighting, simple past and past participle knighted)

1. (transitive) To confer knighthood upon.

   The king knighted the young squire.

2. (chess, transitive) To promote (a pawn) to a knight.

Synonyms

• dub

Derived terms

Terms derived from the verb to knight

• knighted

• knighting

Translations

to confer a knighthood upon

• Czech: pasovat (cs)
• Danish: slå til ridder
• Dutch: ridderen (nl)
• Esperanto: kavaliri
• Estonian: rüütliks lööma
• Finnish: lyödä ritariksi
• French: faire chevalier
• German: zum Ritter schlagen
• Hebrew: העניק תואר אבירות‎ (he'eník tó'ar abirút)

• Hungarian: lovaggá üt
• Macedonian: прогласува за витез (proglasuva za vitez)
• Maori: whakanaiti
• Persian: شوالیه کردن‎ (shovalye kardan)
• Polish: (ancient) ^{(please verify)} pasować na rycerza, (modern) ^{(please verify)} nadać rangę kawalerską
• Portuguese: dar o título de cavaleiro
• Russian: посвяща́ть в ры́цари (posvjaščátʹ v rýcari)
• Swedish: dubba (sv)
• Yiddish: באַריטערן‎ (baritern)

See also

• paladin
• baronet

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• knighte, knyght, knyghte, kniȝt, kniȝte, knyȝt, knyȝte

Etymology

From Old English cniht, from Proto-Germanic *knehtaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /knixt/, [kniçt]
• Rhymes: -ixt

Noun

knight (plural knightes or knighten)

1. knight

Descendants

• Scots: knicht
• English: knight