Word.ws English Dictionary

knightly

/ˈnaɪtli/

knightly adjective: of or pertaining to a knight or knights.

Adjective

knightly (comparative knightlier, superlative knightliest)

  1. Of or pertaining to a knight or knights.
    • Where noyse of armes, or vew of martiall guize / Might not reuiue desire of knightly exercize.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 25
  2. Befitting a knight; formally courteous (as a knight); chivalrous, gallant and courtly.
    • knightly combat

Adverb

knightly (comparative knightlier, superlative knightliest)

  1. In the manner of a knight; chivalrously.
    • Mar. In Gods name, and the Kings, say who yͧ [thou] art.
      And why thou com'st thus knightly clad in Armes?1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to...
    • Who backs a horse, or bears a hawk, or wears
      A sword like him! Whose plume nods knightlier?1822, Lord Byron, Werner, act IV, scene i

knightly meaning in Urdu and Malayalam

knightly in Urdu

بانکوں کی طرح کا, بہادرانہ

knightly in Malayalam

valiant, gallant, noble
വീരോചിതമായ, പ്രഭുവിനുയോജിച്ചവിധമുള്ള, വീരനായകനായ, നെെറ്റിന് ഉചിതമാംവിധമുള്ള, നെെറ്റിനെസംബന്ധിച്ച, പരകാര്യപ്രവീണനായ
upper-class, well born, noble
സ്ഥാനിയായ, ഉന്നതകൂലജാതനായ, ആഢ്യ, ഉത്തമജാതിയായ, ആഢ്യജാതനായ, ഉന്നതകുലത്തിൽ ജനിച്ച

Forms of knightly

Adjective
comparativeknightlier
superlativeknightliest
Adverb
comparativeknightlier
superlativeknightliest

Origin of knightly

From Middle English knyghtly, knightlich; equivalent to knight + -ly (adjectival suffix). Cognate with Old English cnihtlīċ (“boyish”), Dutch knechtelijk (“servile”), German knechtlich (“menial”).

From Middle English knyghtly; equivalent to knight + -ly (adverbial suffix).

Words formed from knightly

Words that rhyme with knightly

Questions about knightly

What does knightly mean?
Knightly means of or pertaining to a knight or knights.
What is knightly in Urdu?
Knightly in Urdu is بانکوں کی طرح کا, بہادرانہ. See Knightly meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is knightly?
Knightly can be an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce knightly?
Knightly is pronounced /ˈnaɪtli/.

Words near knightly in the dictionary

  1. knightlily
  2. knightliness
  3. knightlinesses
  4. knightling
  5. knightlings
  6. knightly
  7. knightmare
  8. knightmares
  9. Knighton
  10. Knighton on Teme
  11. knightress

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knightly (page history and authors); knightly (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); knightly (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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.

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