knight
Pluralknights
Verbknights, knighting, knighted
Pluralknights
Formsknights, knighting, knighted
- 1In the Middle Ages, a man of noble rank who served as an armored warrior on horseback, usually after training as a page and squire.
A knight in full armor needed a strong horse to carry him into battle.
Heavily armored knights on horseback could break an infantry line in a single charge.
Note
The knight of legend and of church monuments: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, or a stone knight lying beside his lady on a tomb. On such effigies the armor helps date them, with chain mail in the fourteenth century and plate in the fifteenth. Strictly it names a man of noble military rank, but it is used loosely for any armored horseman of the Middle Ages.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table belong to legend. english-heritage.org.uk
- Stone church monuments can depict an armoured man lying beside his wife. churchmonumentssociety.org
- The armour depicted on an effigy helps establish its date. britishartstudies.ac.uk
- Mail armour was characteristic of the fourteenth century. metmuseum.org
- Full plate armour was in use in the fifteenth century. historiska.se
- Medieval knighthood was a distinct social and military rank; an armoured horseman was not necessarily a knight. en.wikipedia.org
- 2A person who has been granted a knighthood, usually by a monarch.
The veteran actor, now a knight, still insists that friends call him by his first name.
Among this year's new knights are a surgeon, a novelist and a former Olympic rower.
UsageA knight who uses Sir puts it before the first name: Sir Paul or Sir Paul McCartney (not
incorrect: Sir McCartney). - 3A chess piece, often shaped like a horse's head, that moves two squares in one direction and one at a right angle in a single turn, jumping over any pieces in between.
White's knight forked the king and the rook, and Black had to give up the rook.
Many players bring out both knights early, before the bishops.
Note
The official rules describe the move without counting squares: FIDE's 2023 Laws of Chess send the knight to one of the nearest squares not on its own rank, file or diagonal. In notation it is N, since K belongs to the king, so a move to f3 is Nf3; when both knights could reach that square, the starting file is added, as in Ngf3 or Nef3, unless they share a file, when the starting rank is added instead.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- FIDE's Laws effective in 2023 define the knight's move through nearest squares outside its rank, file and diagonal, without counting squares. handbook.fide.com
- English algebraic notation uses N for the knight to avoid confusion with K for the king. en.wikipedia.org
- Nf3 denotes a knight moving to f3. en.wikipedia.org
- The starting file is added when the knights occupy different files. If they occupy the same file, the starting rank is added instead. Ngf3 and Nef3 are valid examples for knights on different files. en.wikipedia.org
- 4To give someone the rank or honor of a knight.
The young squire hoped his lord would knight him after the campaign.
The king knighted the conductor for a lifetime of service to music.
UsageOften passive, with for: he was knighted for services to music.
Similardub
Note
The verb grew straight out of the noun; Middle English already had it as knighten. The rare verb beknight means the same.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The verb derives from the noun and existed in Middle English as knighten. en.wiktionary.org
- Beknight is a rare verb meaning to confer knighthood. en.wiktionary.org
- 5A brave, chivalrous and honorable man devoted to a noble cause or to someone he loves.
In the novel, the quiet schoolteacher proves to be her true knight, risking his job to clear her name.
The volunteers saw themselves as knights of a noble cause and worked through the winter without pay.
UsageCommon in a knight in shining armor, a man who comes to someone's rescue.
- 6A member of a fraternal organization whose members are known as knights, for example the Knights of Columbus.
As a Knight of Columbus, he helped run the parish's winter coat drive every year.
The local council's knights raised enough money to build a wheelchair ramp at the church.
UsageCapital K with the order's name: a Knight of Columbus.
Note
Fraternal orders borrowed the title for its chivalric ring, with no monarch involved. The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's order founded in New Haven in 1882, meets in local councils and is known for charity and parish work. Unlike a knighthood from a monarch, membership brings no royal honor, though Fourth Degree members are addressed as Sir Knight.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 8 facts
- Fraternal adoption of the title evokes knightly ideals; the Knights of Columbus documents this motivation. kofc-9132.org
- The fraternal title involves no royal conferral and membership brings no royal honor. websterkofc.org
- The Knights of Columbus is an order for Catholic men. en.wikipedia.org
- The Knights of Columbus was founded in New Haven in 1882. kofcny.com
- Members are organized in local councils. en.wikipedia.org
- The organization undertakes charitable work. kofc11091.org
- The organization supports parish work. files.kofc.org
- Fourth Degree members are known as Sir Knights. kansas-kofc.org
Less common meanings
- 7A person bound to perform knight service in return for keeping an estate held by knight's fee.
Under the terms of his tenure, the knight owed the crown armed service whenever it was demanded.
The court ruled that the knight had forfeited his estate by failing to perform the service it required.
Note
A lawyer's knight is a tenant, not necessarily a fighter. The duty belonged to the land: an estate held in knight's fee carried an obligation of knight service, and whoever held the estate owed that service to keep it. The three terms travel together, knight, knight's fee and knight service, and all belong to the history of medieval tenure rather than to any law in force today.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- A lawyer's knight is a tenant, not necessarily a fighter. en.wikipedia.org
- Holding land in knight's fee entailed military service as a condition of continued possession. en.wiktionary.org
- Knight, knight's fee and knight service describe connected elements of historical land tenure. en.wiktionary.org
- Knight-service tenure is historical rather than a continuing legal obligation. en.wikipedia.org
- 8A youth in service to a lord, whether as a servant or follower or as a trained armed attendant.
Similarretainer, attendant, follower
Note
The knight as someone's man, closest to where the word began: Old English cniht meant "boy" or "servant". A knight here is defined by whom he serves, not by the noble rank; an armed attendant might ride in a lord's following with arms the lord supplied. Not every such knight held a fief, and some bought their freedom from its duties or simply rode off with the arms.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Knight derives from Old English cniht, which meant boy or servant. en.wikipedia.org
- The servant or follower sense denotes service to a lord rather than necessarily a noble rank. en.wiktionary.org
- The early sense also included household servants; mounted military service and supplied arms should be presented as possibilities for an armed attendant. en.wikipedia.org
- Some knights lacked fiefs, bought release from their obligations, or absconded with arms supplied by their lord. en.wiktionary.org
- 9To promote a pawn so that it becomes a knight.
Rather than queen the pawn, White knighted it to deliver an immediate check.
Most players would queen the pawn, but she chose to knight it and fork the king and queen.
Note
Choosing a knight over a queen is called underpromotion. The knight is the one piece whose move a queen cannot copy, so a new knight can sometimes give a check, or attack two pieces at once, that a queen on the same square could not. The verb works like queen: a player usually queens a pawn, and knights it when only the knight's jump will do.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Promoting a pawn to a knight rather than a queen is underpromotion. en.wiktionary.org
- The knight's ordinary movement cannot be reproduced by a queen. old.fide.com
- Knight promotion can produce a check or fork unavailable through queen promotion. en.wikipedia.org
- Promotion is usually to a queen. en.wikipedia.org
- To knight a pawn means to promote it to a knight. en.wiktionary.org
- 10A court card showing a rider on horseback, used in tarot packs and in Italian and Spanish packs; in older English descriptions, also a name for the jack.
Note
Card players now call this card the jack, and knight as a name for it belongs to older descriptions of games. A separate card is also called the knight: in tarot packs it ranks between the jack and the queen, and in Italian and Spanish packs, which have no queen, it ranks between the knave and the king.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Knight is a dated name for the knave or jack. en.wiktionary.org
- The separate knight card in tarot ranks between the jack and the queen. en.wikipedia.org
- In Italian and Spanish packs, the knight ranks between the knave and king, with no queen. en.wikipedia.org
- 11Any of the mushrooms that make up the genus Tricholoma.
Under the old pines the forager spotted a knight pushing up through the needles.
Several knights look alike, so she checked the gills and the smell before naming the one in her basket.
- 12Any of certain butterflies of the genus Ypthima, such as the dusky knight of Australia; most species in the genus are called rings.
A dusky knight flew low over the grassland, stopping often to feed at small flowers.
The dusky knight is easy to overlook, because its dull brown wings, marked with small eyespots, blend into the grass where it settles.
Note
Butterfly common names overlap, and this one is shared: knight names various species of the genus Ypthima and also the Asian species Lebadea martha. All are nymphalids, the brush-footed butterflies, whose front legs are so reduced that they seem to stand on four. When it matters which insect is meant, the Latin name settles it.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Ypthima is a genus of butterflies in the family Nymphalidae. en.wikipedia.org
- Lebadea martha is an Asian butterfly belonging to Nymphalidae. en.wikipedia.org
- Nymphalidae are called brush-footed butterflies and have reduced front legs that are not used for walking. genent.cals.ncsu.edu
- These butterflies stand on four legs. en.wikipedia.org
- Scientific names allow precise identification of the species intended. iczn.org
- 13A butterfly of tropical and subtropical Asia, the nymphalid species Lebadea martha.
A knight glided across the forest trail in northern Thailand and settled on a patch of damp ground.
Photographers visiting the rainforests of Southeast Asia often hope to catch the knight with its wings spread.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Old English cniht meant "boy, servant, knight" and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *kneht. In Middle English it appears as knight, knyght or kniht.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Old English cniht meant boy, servant, and knight. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English cniht derives from Proto-West Germanic *kneht. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English forms include knight, knyght, and kniht. en.wiktionary.org
The noun knight was turned into a verb during the Middle English period, giving forms such as knighten and kniȝten. Middle High German knehten is a cognate.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The verb knight derives from the noun in Middle English. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English forms of the verb include knighten and kniȝten. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle High German knehten is cognate with the verb knight. en.wiktionary.org