The Silent K

One common spelling error is omitting the K at the beginning of words where it is silent (example: nick-nack instead of knick-knack). The origins of silent K are difficult to pin down. What we do know is that the k wasn’t always silent, especially in words of Germanic origin. Just as it is in German, the k was actually pronounced and many of the words which now have silent k originally began with that distinctive clicking sound. My high school teacher made a point of this when teaching us Chaucer.

However, some time after the Chaucerian era, the k sound disappeared from the kn combination. There is speculation that it suddenly became hard to pronounce, and was just one of many linguistic changes after the Great Vowel Shift. I haven’t found any corroboration for this theory.

Here’s a partial list of words with a silent K. Feel free to add yours.

knack
knacker
knapsack
knave
knead
knee
kneel
knell
knelt
knew
knick-knack
knickers
knife
knight
knit
knob
knock
knoll
knot
know
knowledge
knuckle

Sharon on March 22, 2008 Subscribe to our RSS Feed

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11 Responses to “The Silent K”

OldSailor on March 22nd, 2008 11:51 am

Good collection. Nothing more to add.
Maeve on March 22nd, 2008 1:43 pm

I’m not
temp- on March 22nd, 2008 1:46 pm

thanks!

if you dont mind guys, i would like to see an explanation to the silent “ed” after regular verbs past tense, i’m still confused about that
Maeve on March 22nd, 2008 1:54 pm

In old English the letter c stood for two sounds: [k] as in come and [ch] as in church.

The word knock comes from OE cnossian “knock, pound.” The word knee comes from cneo, “knee.”

The cn spelling changed to kn under the influence of French spelling conventions brought in by the Normans.

Cn came to be written kn, but the pronunciation remained the same until the 17th century. That’s when the [k] stopped being pronounced. The spelling, however, had become fixed.

Talking about “silent” letters can be confusing. A better way (I think) to learn the spelling of words beginning with kn is to think of kn as a distinctive phonogram, simply an alternate spelling for the sound [n].
Maeve on March 22nd, 2008 2:48 pm

temp,
Have you read this post on the -ed spelling:

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/mind-your-eds/
Hummingbird on March 22nd, 2008 9:24 pm

I have one,

Knur: a hard excrescence (as on a tree trunk) : gnarl
Hummingbird on March 22nd, 2008 9:35 pm

Another three,

knout: a whip used for flogging ..

knops: a small decorative knob or boss..

knobby: having knobs on the surface, or shaped like a knob.

coming back.. :p
Benjamin Baxter on March 23rd, 2008 5:37 am

knock is on there twice.

While you’re at it, might as well change the second one to knockers, as in what.

(Think Mel Brooks.)
Sharon on March 23rd, 2008 10:45 am

Thanks for the additions everyone, and for the additional info, Maeve.
M on March 23rd, 2008 3:15 pm

There’s a chain of shops in the UK that sells doorknobs and door knockers.
It’s called Knobs and Knockers. I see a business venture for porn shops just next to these shops.