knit
/nɪt/
knit verb: to turn thread or yarn into a piece of fabric by forming loops that are pulled through each other. This can be done by hand with needles or by machine.
Verb
knit (third-person singular simple present knits, present participle knitting, simple past knit or (dialectal) knat, past participle knit or knitted or (dialectal) knitten)
- To turn thread or yarn into a piece of fabric by forming loops that are pulled through each other. This can be done by hand with needles or by machine.
- to knit a stocking
- The first generation knitted to order; the second still knits for its own use; the next leaves knitting to industrial manufacturers.
- To create a stitch by pulling the working yarn through an existing stitch from back to front.
- Stitches that are knitted look like little V’s when seen from the front.
- To join closely and firmly together.
- The fight for survival knitted the men closely together.
- Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To thee I send this written embassage,1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 26”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC
- To become closely and firmly joined; become compacted.
- To grow together.
- All those seedlings knitted into a kaleidoscopic border.
- To combine from various elements.
- The witness knitted together his testimony from contradictory pieces of hearsay.
- To heal following a fracture.
- I’ll go skiing again after my bones knit.
- To form into a knot, or into knots; to tie together, as cord; to fasten by tying.
- When your head did but ache,
I knit my handkercher about your brows,c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]... - [He] saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending upon him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners […]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 10:11
- When your head did but ache,
- To draw together; to contract into wrinkles.
- But meet him now, and be it in the Morne, / When euery one will giue the time of day, / He knits his Brow and ſhewes an angry Eye, / And paſſeth by with ſtiffe vnbowed Knee, / Diſdaining dutie that to vs belongs.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
Noun
knit (plural knits)
- A knitted garment.
- There are grey Grecian tops and a light, sheer, silver cardigan. Stylish dark grey tailored trousers, silver thongs and shiny jet-black stilettos. Black sheer blouses with squared bib fronts, and expensive-looking black and dark grey woollen knits.2012, Melanie Calvert, Freycinet, page 105
- A session of knitting.
- It's always time for a bit of a knit.2014, Elvira Woodruff, To Knit or Not to Knit
knit meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
knit in Hindi
- to make fabric from thread or yarn
- बुनना bunnā
knit in Tamil
- துன்னு, பின்னியிழை, பின்னு, வலைப்பின்னு
knit in Urdu
- بڑھنا, اکٹھے اگنا, متحد ہونا, بننا, جوڑنا, ساتھ باندھنا
knit in Bengali
- বুনা, একত্র সংলগ্ন হওয়া, দৃঢ়ভাবে মিলিত করা, কুঁচিত করা, বয়ন করা, একত্র বিজড়িত করা
More languagesFewer languages
- knit in Malayalam
- ഇഴ ചേർക്കുക, തുന്നിച്ചേർക്കുക, ഏകോപിക്കുക, കൂടുക
- knit in Kannada
- ಗಂಟಿಕ್ಕು, ಗಂಟಿಕ್ಕಿಸು, ಹೆಣೆ, ಮೆಡರು
- knit in Nepali
- बुन्नु bunnu
- knit in Arabic
- حَاكَ ḥāka
- knit in Malay
- mengait
- knit in Indonesian
- rajut, merajut
- knit in Persian
- بافتن bâftan
- knit in Thai
- ถัก tàk
- knit in Vietnamese
- đan
- knit in Myanmar
- ထိုး htui:
Examples of knit in a sentence
- I knitted swatches in a cable pattern to see how the different hapazome tachniques and yarn weights affected the appearance of the cables.2026, Stefanie Johnson, “Speckles and Tonals”, in Spin Off, volume L, number 1, page 53:
- And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 18:1:
- Nature cannot knit the bones while the parts are under a discharge.1672, Richard Wiseman, A Treatise of Wounds, London: Richard Royston:
Forms of knit
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | knits |
| present participle | knitting |
| past | knit |
| past participle | knit |
| past participle | knitted |
| past (dialectal) | knat |
| past participle (dialectal) | knitten |
| Noun | |
| plural | knits |
Origin of knit
Inherited from Middle English knytten, from Old English cnyttan, from Proto-West Germanic *knuttijan, from Proto-Germanic *knuttijaną, from *knuttô + *-janą. Cognate with Low German knütten and Old Norse knýta (whence Danish knytte, Norwegian Nynorsk knyta). More at knot.
Words formed from knit
- beknit
- close-knit
- enknit
- handknit
- inknit
- interknit
- knitaholic
- knitalong
- knitathon
- knitback
- knitbone
- knit cap
- knit fog
- knitlike
- knit one's brow
- knit one's brows
- knit one's eyebrows
- knitster
- knittability
- knittable
- knitten
- knitter
- knitting
- knitting needle
- knit together
- knit up
- knitwear
- knitwise
- knitwork
- knit yoghurt
- loose-knit
- misknit
- outknit
- reknit
- stick to one's knitting
- tight-knit
- tightknit
- unknit
- well-knit
- double knit
- warp knit
Phrases with knit
Words that rhyme with knit
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about knit
- What does knit mean?
- Knit means to turn thread or yarn into a piece of fabric by forming loops that are pulled through each other. This can be done by hand with needles or by machine.
- What is knit in Hindi?
- Knit in Hindi is बुनना (bunnā). See Knit meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use knit in a sentence?
- I knitted swatches in a cable pattern to see how the different hapazome tachniques and yarn weights affected the appearance of the cables.
- What part of speech is knit?
- Knit can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce knit?
- Knit is pronounced /nɪt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of knit?
- The past tense of knit is knit.
Words near knit in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: knit (page history and authors); knit (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); knit (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); knit (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); knit (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); knit (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); बुन्नु (Nepali) (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: En-uk-knit.ogg.
Cite this entry: “knit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/knit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.