Knowns

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Things or pieces of information that are recognized or established; elements or facts accepted as certain or familiar; items or concepts that have been identified or understood
2. Data or facts that have been acknowledged or confirmed; knowledge or awareness about particular subjects or phenomena; recognized truths or certainties
3. Information or facts that are familiar and accepted; understood realities or established understandings; elements that are acknowledged as true or reliable

Etymology: "Knowns" is the plural of "known," the past participle of "know," so the noun form is simply that participle turned into a countable thing. The adjective "known" goes back to Old English "cnāwen," the past participle of the verb "cnāwan," and it passed into Middle English as "knowen" before settling into its modern spelling. In mathematics and logic, "knowns" is used to mean the quantities or facts that are already given, as opposed to the "unknowns" one is trying to find. The sense of a set of things that have been established as true follows the same logic: what has been confirmed becomes a kind of inventory that can be counted and set against what remains open.

Synonyms: facts, acquaintances, certainties

Antonyms: unknowns, mysteries