- knee
- O.E. cneo, cneow "knee," from P.Gmc. *knewan (cf. O.N. kne, O.Fris. kni, M.Du. cnie, O.H.G. kniu), from PIE base *g(e)neu- (cf. Skt. janu, Avestan znum, Hittite genu "knee;" Gk. gony "knee," gonia "corner, angle;" L. genu "knee"). The verb meaning "to strike with the knee" is first recorded 1896. Phrase knee-high to a grasshopper first recorded 1851 (earliest form was knee-high to a toad, 1814). Knee-deep is from 1535. Knee-jerk (the patellar reflex) is a neurological phenomenon discovered and named 1876; the figurative use appeared soon after the phrase was coined. Knee-slapper "funny joke" is from 1966.