Word.ws English Dictionary

knocking on wood

knocking on wood is the present participle and gerund of knock on wood.

Meaning of knock on wood

Verb

knock on wood (third-person singular simple present knocks on wood, present participle knocking on wood, simple past and past participle knocked on wood)

  1. (Philippines, US, idiomatic) To take a customary action to ward off some misfortune that is believed to be attracted by a presumptuous statement.
    Synonyms:
    touch wood

See all 2 meanings of knock on wood

Questions about knocking on wood

What is knocking on wood the present participle and gerund of?
Knocking on wood is the present participle and gerund of knock on wood.

Words near knocking on wood in the dictionary

  1. knocking off someone's block
  2. knocking on
  3. knocking on heaven's door
  4. knocking on the door of
  5. knocking on the head
  6. knocking on wood
  7. knocking one down with a feather
  8. knocking one out
  9. knocking one out of the ball park
  10. knocking one out of the ballpark
  11. knocking one out of the park

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knocking on wood (page history and authors); knock on wood (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:

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