*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of knave

From Middle English knave, knafe, from Old English cnafa (“child, boy, youth; servant”), from Proto-West Germanic *knabō. Cognate to Dutch knaap and German Knabe.

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

A boy; especially, a boy servant. · Any male servant; a menial. · A tricky, deceitful fellow; a dishonest person. · A playing card marked with the figure of a servant or a soldier.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English knave, knafe, from Old English cnafa (“child, boy, youth; servant”), from Proto-West Germanic *knabō. Cognate to Dutch knaap and German Knabe.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Inherited-form mentionknaveenm
  • Inherited-form mentioncnafaang
  • Inherited-form mention*knabōgmw-pro
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "knave"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English knave"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "cnafa",
        "4": "",
        "5": "child, boy, youth; servant"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English cnafa (“child, boy, youth; servant”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmw-pro",
        "3": "*knabō"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *knabō"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "knave",
      "knave#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "knafe",
      "knafe#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "cnafa",
      "cnafa#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "*knabō",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/knabō"
    ],
    [
      "knaap",
      "knaap"
    ],
    [
      "Knabe",
      "Knabe"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A boy; especially, a boy servant.",
        "Any male servant; a menial.",
        "A tricky, deceitful fellow; a dishonest person.",
        "A playing card marked with the figure of a servant or a soldier."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "dated"
      ],
      "recordId": "23c7ecf01f063afa8676096f68c4dc18581d8d2ca8ec3723e3a2d67ce5d48607",
      "rawRecordSha256": "21bd452bf8f2baec3223d5c4e8f436268dac4177117e92669aedc0d32bb1ec38",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 237790
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for knave →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-a25hdmU