Knurls

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A ridge or raised bead on a surface, often found on metal or plastic to provide grip or decoration
2. These small, textured protrusions are created to enhance the tactile feel of an object or secure the grip of a fastener
3. Knurls serve practical purposes, such as improving friction in mechanical devices, while also being aesthetically pleasing in design

Etymology: "Knurls" is the plural of "knurl", which began as a diminutive of "knur", a knot in wood. Middle English "knarre" meant a knot in wood, and the word's earlier sense was "a stone", so the idea of a small hard lump sits at its core. The "-le" ending is a diminutive suffix, making "knurl" a little knob or bump, and the same root lies behind the modern sense of a small textured ridge. The spelling has a twist. "Gnarl", a rougher-sounding relative, came later and is a variant that developed from "gnarled", the adjective for twisted, knotty wood, which passed through "knurled" on the way. So the familiar "gnarl" and the mechanical "knurl" are tangled cousins, both descended from the same knotty idea. Old Norse "knǫrr", a word for a knotted tree trunk, likely reinforced the English form.

Synonyms: grooves, ridges