Knyfe

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. An archaic spelling of knife, meaning a cutting tool with a sharp blade set into a handle ; to stab or cut someone or something with such a blade
2. An old form of knife, referring to a hand tool with a sharpened edge for cutting ; to wound or attack a person by thrusting a blade into them
3. A variant spelling of knife, denoting a blade fixed to a grip for slicing ; to pierce or slash at something using a sharp edge

Etymology: The spelling "knyfe" is simply an older form of "knife", and it appears in Middle English, where the word had recently replaced an older native term. Before "knife" took over, English speakers used "sax", from Old English "seax", for a short cutting blade. "Knife" itself came from late Old English "cnīf", which likely traces to a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to pinch", so the earliest idea behind the tool was of something that nips or gnaws at material. The word has close relatives across the North Sea and Scandinavia: Dutch "knijf", German "Knief" in Low German, Danish and Norwegian "kniv", and Icelandic "hnífur" all descend from the same stock. The word has no obvious link to Latin or French for the basic tool, although Old French "coutel" supplied a rival term in Middle English, which later fell out of use. The verb sense is much later, first recorded in 1865, so "to knife" as an action of stabbing or cutting is a relatively recent extension of the noun.