knyght

English

Noun

knyght (plural knyghts)

1. Obsolete spelling of knight.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• knicht, knict, knicth, knight, knighte, kniȝt, kniȝte, kniht, knygȝt, knyghte, knyȝght, knyȝt, knyȝte, knyht, knyte
• cinht, cnihht, cniht, cnist (Early Middle English)

Etymology

From Old English cniht, from Proto-West Germanic *kneht.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /knixt/, /kniːxt/
• (dialectal or late) IPA^(key): /kniːt/
• Rhymes: -ixt

Noun

knyght (plural knyghtes or knyghten)

1. A knight (armoured noble soldier)
   • c. 1275, Judas (Roud 2964, Child Ballad 23, Trinity College MS. B.14.39)‎^[1], folio 34, recto, lines 34-35; republished at Cambridge: Wren Digital Library (Trinity College), 2019 May 29:

     [Þ]au pilatuſ him come wid ten hu[n]dꝛed cniſteſ. / yet ic wolde louerd foꝛ þi loue fiſte.

     "If Pilate himself came with ten hundred knights, / Lord, I would still fight for your sake."

2. (by extension) A noble; a potentate.
3. (figuratively) A warrior; a fighter.
4. (chiefly Early Middle English) A servant or attendant.
5. (Early Middle English) A boy or youth.
6. (chess) A knight (chess piece)

Related terms

• knyghten
• knyghtly

Descendants

• English: knight
• Scots: knicht
• Yola: nickht

References

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