Word.ws English Dictionary

know

/nəʊ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Scotland/no/

know verb: to perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that. Also the alternative form of knowe.

Verb

know (third-person singular simple present knows, present participle knowing, simple past knew or (nonstandard) knowed, past participle known or (colloquial and nonstandard) knew)

  1. (transitive) To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that.
    • Question things. I have the most fun when I'm writing questioning things that people do not question- the assumptions that everybody knows are true.1985 April 17, Frank Herbert, 15:46 from the start, in Frank Herbert speaking at UCLA 4/17/1985, UCLACommStudies, archived from the original on 10 Feb 2017
    • '[…] I know whether a boy is telling me the truth or not.'
      'Thank you, sir.'
      Did he hell. They never bloody did.1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section II, page 24
  2. (intransitive) To be or become aware or cognizant.
    • Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew.
    • Malware's sometimes been known to sit dormant for a long time.
  3. (transitive) To be aware of; to be cognizant of.
    • Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew.
    • She knows where I live.
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To be acquainted (with another person).
    • You, and I haue knowne ſir.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  5. (transitive) To be acquainted or familiar with; to have encountered.
    • I know your mother, but I've never met your father.
    • Borja, do you know Pilar? - Sure, we've actually met before.
    1. (archaic, euphemistic, transitive) To have sexual relations with. This meaning normally specified in modern English as e.g. to ‘know someone in the biblical sense’ or to ‘know biblically’.
      • AFterwarde the man knewe Heuáh his wife, which cõceiued & bare Káin, & ſaid, I haue obteined a man by yͤ Lord.1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Genesis IIII:1, folio 2...
      • Now Gerald had never thought of her having a mother. Then there must have been a father, too, some time. And Miss Wilmarth existed because two people once had loved and known. It was not a thought to dwell upon.1939, Dorothy Parker, “Horsie,”, in Here lies: The collected stories of Dorothy Parker
  6. (transitive) To experience.
    • Their relationship knew ups and downs.
    • The Truman family knew good times and bad,[…].1991, Irvin Haas, Historic Homes of the American Presidents, page 155
  7. To understand or have a grasp of through experience or study.
    • Let me do it. I know how it works.
    • She knows how to swim.
  8. (transitive) To be able to distinguish, to discern, particularly by contrast or comparison; to recognize the nature of.
    • to know a person's face or figure
    • to know right from wrong
  9. (transitive) To recognize as the same (as someone or something previously encountered) after an absence or change.
    • At nearer view he thought he knew the dead, / And call'd the wretched man to mind.c. 1645-1688, Thomas Flatman, Translation of Part of Petronius Arbiter's Satyricon
    • Ernest also is so much improved, that you would hardly know him:[…].1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter V, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding...
  10. (intransitive) To have knowledge; to have information, be informed.
    • It is vital that he not know.
    • She knew of our plan.
  11. (transitive) To be able to play or perform (a song or other piece of music).
    • Do you know "Blueberry Hill"?
  12. (transitive) To have indexed and have information about within one's database.
    • Mmm... Seems you searched for a name that we don't know, we'll send our trained monkeys to check what's in stock.2023 June 7, “Search Names and Meanings”, in Name Doctor, archived from the original on 07 Jun 2023
  13. (transitive) To maintain (a belief, a position) subject to a given philosophical definition of knowledge; to hold a justified true belief.

Noun

know (uncountable)

  1. (rare) Knowledge; the state of knowing.
    • That on the view and know of theſe Contents, […] He ſhould the bearers put to […] death, […]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  2. Knowledge; the state of knowing. (Now confined to the fixed phrase in the know.)

Particle

know

  1. (Singlish) Used at the end of a sentence to draw attention to information one thinks the listener should keep in mind.
    • Make sure you water the plants, know…
    • I was a naval diver know!

Also used as

know is also the alternative form of knowe.

know meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

know in Hindi

be justifiably certain or sure about (something true)
जानना jānnā

know in Tamil

have knowledge of
தெரிந்திரு terintiru

know in Marathi

be justifiably certain or sure about (something true)
जाणणे j̈āṇṇe

know in Urdu

be justifiably certain or sure about (something true)
جاننا jānnā
More languagesFewer languages
know in Bengali
জানা jana, চেনা cena
know in Malayalam
അറിയുക aṟiyuka
know in Gujarati
ઓળખવું oḷkhavũ, જાણવું jāṇvũ
know in Odia
ଜାଣିବା jāṇibā
know in Sanskrit
जानाति jānāti
know in Sinhala
දන්නවා dannawā
know in Nepali
चिन्नु cinnu
know in Pashto
پوهېدل pohedᶕl, پيېدل pǝyedǝ́l
know in Tagalog
kilala, makilala, kilalanin, alam
know in Arabic
عَرَفَ ʕarafa, عرف ʕeref, عِرِف ʕirif, دِري diri
know in Malay
kenal, tahu
know in Indonesian
kenal, tahu, setubuh
know in Persian
شناختن šenâxtan, دانستن dânestan, دونستن dunestan, بلد بودن balad budan
know in Thai
รู้จัก rúu-jàk, รู้ rúu, ทราบ sâap
know in Vietnamese
làm quen, biết
know in Myanmar
သိ si., သိရှိ si.hri., တတ် tat
Sindhi
ڄاڻڻ j̄āṇṇ
Kashmiri
زانُن zānun
Dzongkha
ཤེས shes

Examples of know in a sentence

  • I know that I’m right and you’re wrong.
  • I got to know her during the pandemic, so we've known each other for years now.
  • His mother tongue is Italian, but he also knows French and English.
  • She knows chemistry better than anybody else.
  • Know your enemy and know yourself.
  • I wouldn't know one from the other.

All 40 example sentences with know

Synonyms of know

Forms of know

Verb
third-person singular presentknows
present participleknowing
pastknew
past participleknown
alternative Northumbriaknaa
past (nonstandard)knowed
past participle (nonstandard, colloquial)knew
second-person singular present (archaic)knowest
second-person singular past (archaic)knewest
third-person singular present (archaic)knoweth
alternative form (obsolete)knowe
Noun
pluralknows

Past tense of know: knew

Origin of know

From Middle English knowen, from Old English cnāwan (“to know, perceive, recognise”), from Proto-West Germanic *knāan, from Proto-Germanic *knēaną (“to know”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”). Cognates * from Proto-Germanic: Scots knaw (“to know, recognise”), Icelandic knega (“to know, know how to, be able”), Old High German knājan (“to know, recognise”), Old Norse kná (“to know how”). Remotely related also Dutch and German kennen, West Frisian kenne (see English ken). * from Indo-European: Latin gnoscō, Latin cognoscō (Spanish conocer, French connaître, Romanian cunoaște, Italian conoscere, Portuguese conhecer), Ancient Greek γνωρίζω (gnōrízō, “to know”) and γνῶσις (gnôsis, “knowledge”), Albanian njoh (“to know, recognise”), Russian знать (znatʹ, “to know”), Lithuanian žinoti (“to know”), Persian شناختن (šenâxtan, “to know”) and Hindi जानना (jānnā, “to know, understand”).

Shortening of you know (sense 4)—Singapore English favours pro-drop constructions (Wee, 2003).

Words formed from know

Phrases with know

130 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with know

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about know

What does know mean?
Know means to perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that.
What is know in Hindi?
Know in Hindi is जानना (jānnā). See Know meaning in Hindi.
How do you use know in a sentence?
I know that I’m right and you’re wrong.
What part of speech is know?
Know can be a verb, a noun or a particle.
How do you pronounce know?
Know is pronounced /nəʊ/ (UK).
What is the past tense of know?
The past tense of know is knew.

Words near know in the dictionary

  1. knouter
  2. knouters
  3. knouting
  4. knoutings
  5. knouts
  6. know
  7. know a B from a battledore
  8. know A from B
  9. know about
  10. know any better
  11. know B from a battledore

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: know (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-to know.ogg, en-us-know.ogg.

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