Knit

How to spell knit

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce knit

What does knit mean?

1. verbTo make fabric or a garment by interlocking loops of yarn with needles.
2. verbTo unite, bind, or grow closely together.
3. nounA knitted garment, fabric, or type of stitch.

Knit in a sentence

• verb

  She likes to knit a scarf during the long train commute.

• verb

  Shared hardship can knit a team together more tightly than any reward.

• noun

  She layered a chunky knit over the shirt on the cold morning.

• verb

  My grandmother taught me to knit socks from spare wool.

• verb

  The surgeon explained that the fractured bones would knit within six weeks.

• noun

  The pattern alternates a knit and a purl across each row.

Where does knit come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes from the Old English verb cnyttan, which meant to tie something in a knot or fasten with cord, and it is a close cousin of the noun 'knot' from the same Germanic source. In the earliest spellings the k and the n were both pronounced, so a speaker really did sound out a 'k-nit', which is why the silent k survives in writing today even though English stopped voicing that opening consonant centuries ago. The sense gradually shifted from tying knots to the specific craft of looping yarn on needles, a meaning that was well established by the late Middle Ages. From there it grew a figurative life, so that bones, families, and communities could all be described as knitting or growing closely joined. The shared ancestry with 'knot' is the best memory hook for the spelling: keep the silent k that both words inherited from their common Germanic root.

How the word is built

• knit (from Old English cnyttan: to tie in a knot); the silent k- preserves the older Germanic spelling

Words that sound like knit

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• nit: The egg of a louse, typically found attached to a hair shaft.