Knop

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A rounded protuberance or knob-like structure, often found as a decorative element or at the end of a handle
2. A small, often rounded, mechanical part used to facilitate grip or rotation of a device
3. A bulging feature on a plant or the inflorescence of certain flowering species

Etymology: The word "knop" is an old English term for a rounded knob or bud-like protrusion, and it has survived mainly in architecture, heraldry and botany. It came into Middle English from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch "knoppe", and those German and Dutch forms trace back to a Proto-Germanic root that meant something round and lumpy, a sense that still shows in the word's shape. The most surprising connection is that "knop" may be a doublet of two very different English words, "knave" and "knob". A doublet means words that split off from a single ancestor and took separate paths. The Proto-Germanic root may also be linked to a word meaning "boy", which is how "knave", once a term for a servant or lad, could share an origin with a term for a lump.

Synonyms: knob, protuberance, nodule