- The definition of knee is the joint between the thigh and lower leg.
An example of a knee is the part of the body on which a person kneels.
- Knee is defined as to hit or strike using the joint between the thigh and lower leg.
An example of knee is to hit a soccer ball with this joint.
A woman massages her knee.
- the joint between the thigh and the lower part of the human leg
- the front part of the leg at this joint
- a joint regarded as corresponding or similar to the human knee, as a joint in the leg of a quadruped or bird
- anything resembling or suggesting a knee, esp. a bent knee; specif.,
- a bent piece of wood used as a brace
- a protuberant, woody growth on certain trees
- the part of a stocking, trouser leg, etc. that covers the knee
Origin of kneeMiddle English kne ; from Old English cneow, akin to German knie ; from Indo-European base an unverified form ĝeneu- from source Sanskrit jnu, Classical Greek gony, gonia, Classical Latin genu, a knee
bring to one's knees
- a. The joint between the thigh and the lower leg, formed by the articulation of the femur and the tibia and covered anteriorly by the patella.b. The region of the leg that encloses and supports this joint.
- An analogous joint or part of a leg of a quadruped vertebrate.
- The joint between the femur and the tibia in an insect leg.
- Something resembling the human knee, such as a bent piece of pipe.
- The part of a garment, as of trousers, that covers the knee.
- A vertical, often conical, woody projection arising from the roots of certain swamp-growing trees: cypress knees.
transitive verbkneed kneed, knee·ing, knees
Origin of kneeMiddle English, from Old English cnēo; see genu-1 in Indo-European roots.
(plural knees or kneen)
- In humans, the joint or the region of the joint in the middle part of the leg between the thigh and the shank.
- Penny was wearing a miniskirt, so she skinned her exposed knees when she fell.
- In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in humans.
- The part of a garment that covers the knee.
- (shipbuilding) A piece of timber or metal formed with an angle somewhat in the shape of the human knee when bent.
- (archaic) An act of kneeling, especially to show respect or courtesy.
- To make a knee.
- Any knee-shaped item or sharp angle in a line, "the knee of a graph", an inflection point.
- A blow made with the knee; a kneeing.
(third-person singular simple present knees, present participle kneeing, simple past and past participle kneed)
From Middle English kne, from Old English cnēo, from Proto-Germanic *knewą (compare Low German Knee, Dutch knie, German Knie, Danish knæ, Swedish knä), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéwo-, a thematic derivative of Proto-Indo-European *ǵónu. Compare Hittite (genu), Latin genū, Tocharian A kanweṃ (dual), Tocharian B kenī, Ancient Greek γόνυ (góny, “knee”), γωνία (gōnía, “corner, angle”), Old Armenian ծունր (cunr), Avestan (žnum), Sanskrit जानु (jānu).