know
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "know", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "know" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "know" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
know is aEnglishverb. It means: To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that. Pronounced /nəʊ/. It ranks #84 in English word frequency. Often confused with ko and Koh.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | know |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /nəʊ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #84 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for know is 4 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /nəʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #84 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for know, with forms such as "kknow", "knnow", and "knoww". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ko", "Koh", "koi", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English knowen, from Old English cnāwan (“to know, perceive, recognise”), from Proto-West Germanic *knāan, from Proto-Germanic *knēaną (“to know”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”). Cognates from Indo-European: Latin gnoscō, Latin co… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is know, spelled K-N-O-W, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that.
- 2To be or become aware or cognizant.
- 3To be aware of; to be cognizant of.
- 4To be acquainted (with another person).
- 5To be acquainted or familiar with; to have encountered.
- 6To be acquainted or familiar with; to have encountered.
- 7To experience.
- 8To understand or have a grasp of through experience or study.
- 9To be able to distinguish, to discern, particularly by contrast or comparison; to recognize the nature of.
- 10To recognize as the same (as someone or something previously encountered) after an absence or change.
- 11To have knowledge; to have information, be informed.
- 12To be able to play or perform (a song or other piece of music).
- 13To have indexed and have information about within one's database.
- 14To maintain (a belief, a position) subject to a given philosophical definition of knowledge; to hold a justified true belief.
Etymology
From Middle English knowen, from Old English cnāwan (“to know, perceive, recognise”), from Proto-West Germanic *knāan, from Proto-Germanic *knēaną (“to know”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”). Cognates from Indo-European: Latin gnoscō, Latin cognoscō (Spanish conocer, French connaître, Romanian cunoaște, Italian conoscere, Portuguese conhecer), Ancient Greek γνωρίζω (gnōrízō, “I know”) and γνῶσις (gnôsis, “knowledge”), Albanian njoh (“I know, recognise”), Russian знать (znatʹ, “to know”), Lithuanian žinoti (“to know”), and Persian شناختن (šenâxtan, “to know”). from Proto-Germanic: Scots knaw (“to know, recognise”), Icelandic knega (“to know, know how to, be able”), Old High German knājan (“to know, recognise”), Old Norse kná (“to know how”). Remotely related also Dutch and German kennen, West Frisian kenne (see English ken).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: kknow,knnow,knoww,knwo,konw,nkow
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for know
Misspelling Variants of "know"
Frequency rank: #84 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter K in our English index: