What does knot mean?
Knot is a versatile English word best known for a loop or fastening formed by tying rope, string, or another flexible material. In everyday figurative use, a knot can mean a tangled mass or a problem that is difficult to untangle, as in a legal or bureaucratic knot. The word also has concrete meanings: a hard swelling in a tree, a small lump in a material, a unit of speed used in navigation, and, less commonly, a tightly knit group of people. Used as a verb, knot means to tie or form a knot, although it can also describe swimming or other movement in an undulating way. Its imagery is especially useful because it combines the physical act of binding with the idea of something becoming complicated. A knot is something deliberately made when it fastens a rope, but an unwanted knot is something that impedes movement or understanding. This contrast gives the word its familiar practical meaning and its broader metaphorical reach.
A loop or fastening made by tying or twisting a material; also a compact mass, hard swelling, difficult problem, navigational unit of speed, or tightly knit group, depending on context.
"The sailor secured the rope with a firm knot."
To tie or fasten into a knot, to form a knot, or to move in an undulating way.
"The sailor knotted the rope around the post."
The swimming sense is less common than the tying sense and is typically used with forms such as swimming or moving.
The plural is used for individual fastenings, tangles, tree swellings, and other countable instances; speed expressions such as twenty knots take the same plural form.
"The old gate was held together by several knots."
A knot began as a simple physical fact—rope twisted into itself—and grew into a symbol for everything from tangled hair to an impossibly complicated problem.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does knot come from?
The English word comes from Old English cnotta, meaning a knot, protuberance, or difficult problem, and continues the Germanic form represented in Old Norse, Old Saxon, and Old High German. It is generally traced to a Proto-Indo-European root associated with tying or fastening. The word is also related to English cognates such as know, knight, and can, reflecting older connections among ideas of tying, recognizing, and knowing.
Related word forms
How knot is actually used
As a noun, knot usually refers to a fastening, a compact mass, a tree swelling, or a difficult situation. As a verb, it means to tie or form a knot, and it can also describe moving in an undulating way, as in swimming. In nautical and aviation contexts, knots measures speed rather than distance.
Easily confused with knot
Knot and not are homophones, but not is the negative word and has no meaning connected with tying, twisting, or fastening.