英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

klieg [klieg 词源字典]: kind of arc lamp used as a studio light, 1921, from Bavarian-born U.S. engineers brothers Anton and John Kliegl, who invented it.[klieg etymology, klieg origin, 英语词源]
Klondike: tributary of the Yukon River in northwestern Canada, from Kutchin (Athabaskan) throndiuk, said to mean "hammer-water" and to be a reference to the practice of driving stakes into the riverbed to support fish traps. Scene of a gold rush after 1896.
kludge: 1962, noun and verb, U.S. slang, fanciful coinage by U.S. author Jackson W. Granholm (b.1921). Related: Kludgy.
klutz (n.): 1967, American English, from Yiddish klots "clumsy person, blockhead," literally "block, lump," from Middle High German klotz "lump, ball." Compare German klotz "boor, clod," literally "wooden block" (see clot).
klutzy (adj.): 1965, from klutz + -y (2). Related: Klutziness.
kn-: Germanic consonant cluster; the sound is still evident in most sister languages but in English it has been reduced to "n-" in standard pronunciation since before 1750, and for about a century before that it had been pronounced hn-, dn-, tn-. It was fully voiced in Old and Middle English.
knack (n.): mid-14c., "deception, trick, device," of uncertain origin, probably from a Low German word meaning "a sharp sounding blow" (compare Middle English knak, late 14c.; German knacken "to crack"), of imitative origin. Sense of "special skill" is first recorded 1580s, if this is in fact the same word. In old slang (mid-18c.-mid-19c.) nacky meant "full of knacks; ingenious, dexterous."
knacker (v.): usually in past tense, knackered, "to kill, castrate" (1855), but most often used in weakened sense of "to tire out" (1883); apparently from knacker (n.) "worn-out or useless horse," 1812, of unknown origin; possibly from a dialectal survival of a Scandinavian word represented by Old Norse hnakkur "saddle," hnakki "back of the neck," and thus possibly related to neck (n.).
knackered (adj.): "worn out, tired," past participle adjective from knacker (v.).
knap (v.): "to strike with a sharp sound," late 15c., echoic. Earlier (c. 1400) as a noun meaning "abrupt stroke." Related: Knapped; knapping.
knapsack (n.): c. 1600, from Low German Knapsack (Dutch knapzak), probably from knappen "to eat" literally "to crack, snap" + Sack "bag" (see sack (n.1)).
knave (n.): Old English cnafa "boy, male servant," common Germanic (cognates: Old High German knabo "boy, youth, servant," German knabe "boy, lad," also probably related to Old English cnapa "boy, youth, servant," Old Norse knapi "servant boy," Dutch knaap "a youth, servant," Middle High German knappe "a young squire," German Knappe "squire, shield-bearer"). The original meaning might have been "stick, piece of wood" [Klein]. Sense of "rogue, rascal" first recorded c. 1200. In playing cards, "the jack," 1560s.
knavery (n.): 1520s, from knave + -ery.
knavish (adj.): late 14c., from knave + -ish. Related: Knavishly; knavishness.
knead (v.): Old English cnedan "to knead," from Proto-Germanic *knedan (cognates: Old Saxon knedan, Middle Dutch cneden, Dutch kneden, Old High German knetan, German kneten, Old Norse knoða "to knead"). Originally a strong verb (past tense cnæd, past participle cneden).
knee (n.): Old English cneo, cneow "knee," from Proto-Germanic *knewam (cognates: Old Norse kne, Old Saxon kneo, Old Frisian kni, Middle Dutch cnie, Dutch knie, Old High German kniu, German Knie, Gothic kniu), from PIE root *g(e)neu- (cognates: Sanskrit janu, Avestan znum, Hittite genu "knee;" Greek gony "knee," gonia "corner, angle;" Latin genu "knee"). Knee-slapper "funny joke" is from 1955.
knee (v.): early 13c., "to bend the knee, kneel," from Old English cneowian, from cneow (see knee (n.)). The meaning "to strike with the knee" is first recorded 1892. Related: Kneed; kneeing.
knee-deep (adj.): 1530s, from knee (n.) + deep (adj.).
knee-high (adj.): 1743, from knee (n.) + high (adj.). Phrase knee-high to a grasshopper first recorded 1851 (earliest form was knee-high to a toad, 1814).
knee-jerk (n.): patellar reflex, neurological phenomenon discovered and named 1876; the figurative use appeared soon after the phrase was coined.