# knuckle

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈnʌkəl/ · frequency rank #21,840

## Definitions
1. Any of the joints between the bones of the fingers.
2. A mechanical joint.
3. The curved part of the cushion at the entrance to the pockets on a cue sports table.
4. The kneejoint of a quadruped, especially of a calf; formerly, the kneejoint of a human being.
5. A cut of meat of various kinds.
6. The joint of a plant.
7. A convex portion of a vessel's figure where a sudden change of shape occurs, as in a canal boat, where a nearly vertical side joins a nearly flat bottom.
8. A contrivance, usually of brass or iron, and furnished with points, worn to protect the hand, to add force to a blow, and to disfigure the person struck; a knuckle duster.
9. The rounded point where a flat changes to a slope on a piste.

## Etymology
From Middle English knokel (“finger joint”), from Old English cnucel (“the juncture of two bones; knuckle; joint”), from Proto-West Germanic *knukil, from Proto-Germanic *knukilaz (“knuckle, knot, bump”), as *knukô (“bone, joint”) + *-ilaz (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Dutch knokkel (“knuckle”), Low German Knökel (“knuckle”), German Knöchel (“ankle, knuckle”), Old Norse knykill.

## Easily confused with
- **knuckles** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/knuckle-vs-knuckles)

## Common misspellings (11)
`kknuckle`, `kncukle`, `knnuckle`, `knucckle`, `knuckel`, `knuckkle`, `knucklle`, `knuclke`, `knukcle`, `kunckle`, `nkuckle`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/knuckle