knack
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L23968 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /næk/
name
Etymology: German surname, variant of Knaack. Also as a German surname, from Bavarian genack (“neck”); see German Genick (“nape of the neck”), English neck.
- A surname.
noun
Etymology: Late Middle English, use as "special skill" from 1580. Possibly from 14th century Middle English krak, knack (“a sharp sound or blow”), knakke, knakken, from Middle Low German and of imitative origin, similar to Dutch knak (“snap, crack”). Latter cognate to German knacken (“to crack”). See also crack.
- A readiness in performance; aptness at doing something.
“These men had some uncanny knack of knowing when the steel was right, and like many such things, it just could not be put into a textbook on the subject.”
“The sophist runs for cover to the darkness of what is not and attaches himself to it by some knack of his;”
- A petty contrivance; a toy.
- Something performed, or to be done, requiring aptness and dexterity.
verb
Etymology: Late Middle English, use as "special skill" from 1580. Possibly from 14th century Middle English krak, knack (“a sharp sound or blow”), knakke, knakken, from Middle Low German and of imitative origin, similar to Dutch knak (“snap, crack”). Latter cognate to German knacken (“to crack”). See also crack.
- To crack; to make a sharp, abrupt noise; to chink.
“If they hear the Beads knack upon each other, that's enough.”
- To speak affectedly.