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, knight”), from Proto-West Germanic *kneht.

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. (law, historical) A person obliged to provide knight service in exchange for maintenance of an estate held in knight's fee.
5. (modern) A person on whom a knighthood has been conferred by a monarch.
6. (literary) A brave, chivalrous and honorable man devoted to a noble cause or love interest.
8. (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.
9. (card games, dated) A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack.
10. (entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Ypthima.
11. (modern) Any mushroom belonging to genus Tricholoma.

Synonyms

• (chess piece): horse (informal)

Hyponyms

• knight banneret, banneret

Coordinate terms

• knight's fee, knight service

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun knight

• ale-knight
• ashen knight (Tricholoma virgatum)
• belted knight
• birch knight (Tricholoma fulvum)
• bitter knight (Tricholoma acerbum)
• black knight
• blue-spot knight (Tricholoma columbetta)
• booted knight (Tricholoma focale)
• burnt knight (Tricholoma ustale)
• carpet knight
• chemical knight (Tricholoma stiparophyllum)
• Dark Knight
• dark-scaled knight (Tricholoma atrosquamosum)
• deceiving knight (Tricholoma sejunctum)
• dusky knight (Ypthima arctous)
• giant knight (Tricholoma colossus)
• girdled knight (Tricholoma cingulatum)
• gray knight, grey knight (Tricholoma terreum)
• imperial knight
• knight adventurer
• knight adventurous
• knightage
• Knight Bachelor, knight bachelor
• knight-bairn
• knight-banneret
• knight banneret
• knight baronet
• knight brother
• knight caligate
• knight caligate of arms
• knight-cross
• knight errant
• knight-errant
• knight-errantry
• knight-erratic
• knightess
• knightfully
• knight-head
• knighthood
• knightify
• knight in shining armor, knight in shining armour
• knightless
• knightling
• knightly
• knightmare
• knight marshal
• 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 Bath
• knight of the blade
• knight of the brush
• knight of the carpet
• knight of the chamber
• 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 green baize
• knight of the green cloth
• knight of the hammer
• 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 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
• Knightsbridge
• knight's cross
• knight-service
• knight service
• knight's fee
• knightship
• knight's milfoil (Achillea millefolium)
• knight's move
• Knights of Columbus
• Knights of Labor
• Knights of Pythias
• knight's pondwort
• knight's progress
• knight's star
• knight's water-sengreen
• knight's wort
• knight's woundwort (Achillea millefolium)
• Knight Templar
• knight wager
• knight-weed
• knight-wife
• knightwise
• lance-knight
• learning-knight
• matt knight (Tricholoma imbricatum)
• Military Knight of Windsor
• Naval Knights of Windsor
• orange knight (Tricholoma aurantium)
• poplar knight (Tricholoma populinum)
• scaly knight (Tricholoma vaccinum)
• scented knight (Tricholoma apium)
• silver knight
• silver knight (Psaltoda plaga)
• soapy knight (Tricholoma saponaceum)
• sulphur knight (Tricholoma sulphureum)
• Tolleshunt Knights
• upright knight (Tricholoma stans)
• white knight
• white-knight
• yellowing knight (Tricholoma argyraceum, syn. Tricholoma sculpturatum)
• yellow knight (Tricholoma equestre)

 

Translations

warrior, especially of the Middle Ages

• Afrikaans: ridder
• Albanian: kalorës (sq) m, kalorëse f
• Arabic: فَارِس (ar) m (fāris)
• Armenian: ասպետ (hy) (aspet)
• Aromanian: caballeru m
• Azerbaijani: cəngavər, rıtsar
• 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／骑士 (zh) (qíshì), 大俠／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 (et)
• 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

  Middle High German: rîtære m, rîter m, riter m, ritter m

• Greek: ιππότης (el) m (ippótis)
• Hebrew: פָּרָשׁ (he) m (parásh), אַבִּיר (he) m (abír)
• Hindi: शूरवीर (hi) m (śūrvīr), राउल (hi) m (rāul), नाइट m (nāiṭ)
• Hungarian: lovag (hu)
• Icelandic: riddari (is) m
• Ido: kavaliero (io)
• Indonesian: ksatria (id)
• Interlingua: cavallero, cavaliero
• Irish: ridire m
• Italian: cavaliere (it) m
• Japanese: 騎士 (ja) (きし, kishi), ナイト (ja) (naito)
• Kazakh: сері (serı)
• Khmer: អស្សឬទ្ធិ (ahsa’ rɨɨ tʰi’)
• Korean: 기사(騎士) (ko) (gisa), 나이트 (naiteu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سوارا (swara)

  Northern Kurdish: şovalye (ku), siwarî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: рыцарь (ky) (rıtsar)
• Latin: eques (la) m

  Medieval Latin: mīles (la) m, mīlitāris (la) m

• Latvian: bruņinieks m
• Lithuanian: riteris m
• Low German:

  German Low German: ridder

• Macedonian: витез m (vitez), рицар (mk) m (ricar), ритер (mk) m (riter)
• Malay: kesatria
• Maltese: kavallier
• Manx: reejerey
• Maranao: kabayo
• Middle English: knyght, chivaler
• 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
• Tajik: баҳодур (bahodur), ритсар (ritsar)
• Thai: อัศวิน (th) (àt-sà-win)
• Turkish: şövalye (tr)
• Ukrainian: ли́цар m (lýcar), ри́цар m (rýcar), ви́тязь m (výtjazʹ), богати́р (uk) m (bohatýr)
• Uyghur: چەۋەنداز (chewendaz)
• Uzbek: ritsar (uz)
• Vietnamese: hiệp sĩ (vi)
• Vilamovian: rycyż m
• Welsh: marchog m
• West Frisian: ridder
• Yiddish: ריטער m (riter)
• Zazaki: sahsuar m, sowalya m, aspar (diq)

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／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)
• Hebrew: אַבִּיר (he) m (abír)
• Icelandic: riddari (is) m
• Indonesian: ksatria (id)
• Irish: ridire m
• Japanese: 騎士 (ja) (きし, kishi)
• Kazakh: сері (serı)
• Khmer: អស្សឬទ្ធិ (ahsa’ rɨɨ tʰi’)
• Korean: 기사(騎士) (ko) (gisa)
• Macedonian: витез m (vitez)
• Marathi: नाइट m (nāiṭ)
• Middle English: knyght
• 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)
• Albanian: kalë (sq) m
• Arabic: حِصَان (ar) m (ḥiṣān), فَرَس m (faras)
• Armenian: ձի (hy) (ji)
• Azerbaijani: at (az)
• Basque: zaldi (eu)
• Belarusian: конь m (konʹ), ве́ршнік m (vjéršnik), ко́ннік m (kónnik), ко́ньнік m (kónʹnik)
• Bengali: ঘোড়া (bn) (ghōṛa)
• Bulgarian: кон (bg) m (kon)
• Burmese: မြင်း (my) (mrang:)
• Catalan: cavall (ca) m
• Chinese:

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

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

• Czech: jezdec (cs) m
• Danish: springer (da) c, hest (da) c
• Dutch: paard (nl) n
• Esperanto: ĉevalo (eo)
• Estonian: ratsu (et)
• Faroese: riddari m
• Finnish: ratsu (fi)
• French: cavalier (fr) m
• Galician: cabalo (gl) m
• Georgian: მხედარი (mxedari)
• German: Springer (de) m, ^{(please verify)} 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), ló (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 (ja) (けいま, keima) (in shogi)
• Javanese: jaran (jv)
• Kashmiri: گُر (ks) m (gur)
• Kazakh: ат (kk) (at)
• Khmer: សេះ (km) (seh)
• Korean: 나이트 (naiteu)
• Kyrgyz: ат (ky) (at)
• Lao: ມ້າ (mā)
• Latvian: zirdziņš m
• Lithuanian: žirgas (lt) m
• Luxembourgish: Sprénger (lb) m
• Macedonian: коњ m (konj)
• Malay: kuda (ms)
• Malayalam: കുതിര (ml) (kutira) (cavalry)
• Maori: toa (mi)
• Marathi: घोडा (mr) m (ghoḍā)
• Middle English: knyght
• 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
• Swahili: farasi (sw), jemadari
• Swedish: springare (sv) c, häst (sv) c
• Tajik: асп (tg) (asp)
• Tatar: ат (tt) (at)
• Thai: ม้า (th) (máa)
• Turkish: at (tr)
• Turkmen: at (tk)
• Ukrainian: кінь (uk) m (kinʹ)
• Urdu: گھوڑا m (ghoṛā)
• Uyghur: ئات (ug) (at)
• Uzbek: asp (uz), ot (uz)
• Vietnamese: mã (vi)
• Yiddish: ריטער m (riter), שפּרינגער m (shpringer), זקן m (zokn)
• Zazaki: bergir (diq) m

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)

2. (transitive) To confer knighthood upon.

   Synonym: beknight

   The king knighted the young squire.

3. (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 (hu)
• Macedonian: прогласува за витез (proglasuva za vitez)
• Maori: whakanaiti
• Persian: شوالیه کردن (šovâlye kardan)
• Polish: pasować na rycerza impf nadać rangę kawalerską
• Portuguese: dar o título de cavaleiro
• Russian: посвяща́ть в ры́цари (posvjaščátʹ v rýcari)
• Swedish: dubba (sv)
• Yiddish: באַריטערן (baritern)
• Zazaki: sowalya kerden

See also

• paladin
• baronet

References

• “knight”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Middle English

Noun

knight

1. Alternative form of knyght