Everyday life

knife

Late Old English cnīf most likely came from Norse knífr, and it slowly pushed out the native word seax — the blade that gave the Saxons their name. English then lent it to French (canif, 'penknife'), Japanese, Korean, Portuguese slang and Samoan.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

From Old Norse to Icelandic

From Old Norse to Faroese

From Old Norse to Swedish

From Old Norse to Danish

From Old Norse to Norwegian

From Middle English to Scots

From Middle English to Middle French, French

From English to Samoan

From English to Japanese

From English to Portuguese

From English to Korean

1050Old Norse

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

The road to English

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