Word.ws English Dictionary

kneecap

/ˈniːˌkæp/

kneecap noun: the flat, roundish bone in the knee.

Noun

kneecap (plural kneecaps)

  1. The flat, roundish bone in the knee.
  2. A metal cover trim that fits over a panel rib after it has been cut and bent.
  3. A cap or strong covering for the knees, used chiefly for horses, to protect their knees in case of a fall.

Verb

kneecap (third-person singular simple present kneecaps, present participle kneecapping, simple past and past participle kneecapped)

  1. (transitive) To destroy the knees of (a person), usually by shooting at the knees, as a punishment carried out by criminals or terrorists.
    • The Sinn Féin press officer Richard McAuley freely admitted, “Back four or five years ago, people were getting kneecapped who should not have been kneecapped.”2020, Liam Kennedy, Who Was Responsible for the Troubles?, McGill-Queen's Press, →ISBN, page 109
  2. (broadly, figuratively, transitive) To attack (someone) in a way that is excessively and needlessly damaging: to cut (someone) off at the knees.
    • This story of how American originality lost its way is arresting and well told. On an alternate timeline without Donald Trump in office dismantling the American scientific establishment and Elon Musk kneecapping the American state, it might have been the manifesto of a new politics.2025 March 18, Samuel Moyn, “Can Democrats Learn to Dream Big Again?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2025

kneecap meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu

kneecap in Hindi

kneecap
चपनी capnī

kneecap in Tamil

kneecap
முட்டி muṭṭi

kneecap in Urdu

گھٹنے کی ہڈی

kneecap in Telugu

bone
మోకాటి చిప్ప mōkāṭi cippa
More languagesFewer languages
kneecap in Malayalam
മുട്ടിൻചിരട്ട muṭṭiṉciraṭṭa
kneecap in Kannada
ಮಂಡಿಚಿಪ್ಪು maṇḍicippu
kneecap in Sanskrit
कपोल kapola
kneecap in Assamese
চকৰি sokori
kneecap in Tagalog
suklob-tuhod, suklob ng tuhod, bayugo
kneecap in Arabic
رَضَفَة raḍafa
kneecap in Malay
tempurung lutut, cencawan, kunci-kunci lutut, patela
kneecap in Indonesian
tempurung lutut, patela, cencawan, kunci-kunci lutut
kneecap in Persian
کشکک kaškak
kneecap in Thai
สะบ้า sà-bâa
kneecap in Vietnamese
xương bánh chè
kneecap in Myanmar
ဒူးခေါင်း du:hkaung:
Dhivehi
ފިޔަން ކަށިގަނޑު fiyan̊ kaṣigaⁿḍu

Synonyms of kneecap

Forms of kneecap

Noun
pluralkneecaps
Verb
third-person singular presentkneecaps
present participlekneecapping
past participlekneecapped
pastkneecapped

Plural of kneecap: kneecaps

Origin of kneecap

From knee + cap.

Words that rhyme with kneecap

Questions about kneecap

What does kneecap mean?
Kneecap means the flat, roundish bone in the knee.
What is kneecap in Hindi?
Kneecap in Hindi is चपनी (capnī). See Kneecap meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is kneecap?
Kneecap can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce kneecap?
Kneecap is pronounced /ˈniːˌkæp/.
What is the plural of kneecap?
The plural of kneecap is kneecaps.

Words near kneecap in the dictionary

  1. kneeboarding
  2. kneeboards
  3. kneebound
  4. kneebuckle
  5. kneebuckles
  6. kneecap
  7. kneecapped
  8. kneecapper
  9. kneecappers
  10. kneecapping
  11. kneecappings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kneecap (page history and authors); चपनी (Hindi) (page history and authors); முட்டி (Tamil) (page history and authors); kneecap (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); চকৰি (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-kneecap.wav.

Cite this entry: “kneecap.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kneecap. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.