Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Knave |
KnaveNoun1. A deceitful and unreliable scoundrel. 2. One of four face cards in a deck bearing a picture of a young prince. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "knave" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Knave A lad, a garcon, a servant. (Anglo-Saxon, cnáfa; German, knabe.) The knave of clubs, etc., is the son or servant of the king and queen thereof. In an old version of the Bible we read: "Paul, a knave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle," etc. (Rom. i. 1). This version, we are told, is in the Harlelan Library, but is generally supposed to be a forgery. But, without doubt, Wycliff (Rev. xii. 5, 13) used the compound "Knave-child," and Chaucer uses the same in the Man of Lawe's Tale, line 5130. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: KnaveSynonyms: jack (n), rapscallion (n), rascal (n), rogue (n), scalawag (n), scallywag (n), varlet (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Amusement | Ace, king, queen, knave, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, trey, deuce; joker; trump, wild card. |
Deceiver | Conjuror, juggler, trickster, prestidigitator, jockey; crimp, decoy, decoy duck; rogue, knave, cheat; swindler; (thief); jobber. |
Knave | Noun: knave, rogue; Scapin, rascal; Lazarillo de Tormes; bad man; blackguard; barrater, barrator; shyster. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Knave |
| English words defined with "knave": Beknave ♦ Coat card ♦ Pam ♦ Right bower. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "knave": Acceptance, Acceptation ♦ FIB ♦ KNAVE IN GRAIN, Knave of Hearts, Knave of Sologne ♦ O'gier the Dane ♦ PAM, Panurge ♦ QUEEN ♦ satire, Skains-mate, SWABBERS. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "knave": goblin. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Every knave will have a slave, you or I must be he (Aeon Flux; writing credit: Mario Sábato) A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking, whoreson, glass-gazing, super-servicable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch; one whom I will beat into clamorous whining if thou deny'st the least syllable of thy addition (King Lear; writing credit: William Shakespeare) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Knave of Diamonds (1921) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | All fours-important state of the game-the knave about to be lost. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Who stole the tarts?] "Please, your Majesty," said the Knave, "I didn't write it ... Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Benjamin Franklin | The honest man takes pains, and then enjoys pleasures; the knave takes pleasure, and then suffers pain. |
Charles Caleb Colton | He that dies a martyr proves that he was not a knave, but by no means that he was not a fool. |
Christopher Marlowe | Now will I show myself to have more of the serpent than the dove; that is more knave than fool. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Alice in Wonderland | Carroll, Lewis | The Knave shook his head sadly |
King Richard III | Shakespeare, William | Her husband, knave! Wouldst thou betray me |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | SATIRE, n. An obsolete kind of literary composition in which the vices and follies of the author's enemies were expounded with imperfect tenderness. In this country satire never had more than a sickly and uncertain existence, for the soul of it is wit, wherein we are dolefully deficient, the humor that we mistake for it, like all humor, being tolerant and sympathetic. Moreover, although Americans are "endowed by their Creator" with abundant vice and folly, it is not generally known that these are reprehensible qualities, wherefore the satirist is popularly regarded as a soul-spirited knave, and his ever victim's outcry for codefendants evokes a national assent. Hail Satire! be thy praises ever sung In the dead language of a mummy's tongue, For thou thyself art dead, and damned as well -- Thy spirit (usefully employed) in Hell. Had it been such as consecrates the Bible Thou hadst not perished by the law of libel. Barney Stims |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Knave" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 97.50% of the time. "Knave" is used about 40 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 97.5% | 39 | 55,036 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.5% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 40 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "knave": arrant knave ♦ Knave child ♦ knave of hearts. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "knave": knave-proof. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
knave | 42 |
knave magazine | 16 |
knight or knave | 7 |
knave of hearts | 6 |
kestrel knave | 3 |
knave rebekah teasdale | 2 |
knave mattias | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "knave"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | kopuk (bad character, blackguard, cad, miscreant, rapscallion, rascal, reprobate, ruffian, scamp, scapegrace, varmint, villain), horr (cad, rat, reprobate, rough neck, ruffian, scoundrel, villain), fant (Jack), batakçi (blackguard, blackleg, con man, fiddler, grafter, gyp, humbug, hustler, leg, picaroon, rogue, scaramouch, sharper, slicker, trickster, twister, villain). (various references) | |
Arabic | خادم (attendant, boy, factotum, flunkey, flunky, footman, lackey, livery, man, manservant, menial, page, retainer, servant, valet, vassal), المحتال (artist, bluffer, cheat, crook, dodger, impostor, juggler, kite, queue jumper, rook, shark, sharper, skin, swindler), المخادع (artist, fraud, illusionist, liar, rook, trickster, wind cheater), الولد بورق العب, الوغد (blackguard, kite, loon, rapscallion, rascal, rogue, scamp, scapegrace, scoundrel, villain), رجل وضيع المولد. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | слуга (follower, footman, gossoon, man, manservant, menial, myrmidon, peon, retainer, servant, servitor, valet), вале (picture card), негодник (dog, good for nothing, no good, rotter, scapegrace, scaramouch, sorry fellow, villain, wretch), мошеник (blackguard, cheat, crook, dead beat, deadbeat, dodger, grafter, gyp, hustler, jongleur, palmer, picaroon, rogue, scoundrel, sham, shark, sharp, skin, trickster, varlet, wretch), момче (boy, bud, chap, chappy, fellow, gossoon, guy, kid, lad, laddie, loon, man child, son of adam, urchin). (various references) | |
Chinese | 侍童. (various references) | |
Czech | kluk (bloke, boy, fellow, guy, Jack, lad, son, youngster), spodek (bottom, Jack, substructure, underneath), lump (bad lot, blackguard, heel, louse, rascal, skunk, villain, wretch). (various references) | |
Farsi | فرومایه (Abject, Base, Brassy, Currish, Ignoble, Low, Vile), پست وحقیر, ادم رذل (Makeshift, Rascal, Scalawag, Scamp), رند (Rogue). (various references) | |
Finnish | sotamies (enlisted man, G.I, jack, private, soldier), roisto (cheat, crook, rascal, rogue, scoundrel, villain), lurjus (rascal, scoundrel). (various references) | |
French | valet, servant, rogue, fripon, filou, coquin. (various references) | |
German | schurke (a rascally fellow, baddie, blackguard, bounder, cheat, crook, desperado, miscreant, rascal, rogue, scoundrel, scoundrell, villain). (various references) | |
Greek | κατεργάρησ (crook, foxy, rapscallion, rascal, rascallion, rogue, roguish, scalawag, trickster), βαλέσ, παλιάνθρωποσ (blackguard, miscreant, rascal, rotter, scalawag, scamp, scapegrace, scoundrel, skunk), φάντησ, απατεώνασ (beguiler, bilk, bilker, blackleg, cheat, crook, fraud, hoodwinker, imposture, jockey, swindler), απατεών (circumventer, circumventor, cozener, crook, deceiver, faker, fraud, hoodwinker, jockey, rook, shammer, shark, sharp, shaver, slicker, swindler, tricker, trickster, victimizer, welcher, welsher). (various references) | |
Hebrew | וכל (charlatan, crafty, crook, impostor, miscreant, racketeer, rogue, scoundrel, shark, sharper, swindrel, trickster). (various references) | |
Hungarian | gazfickó (cad, caitiff, miscreant, rogue), bubi (Jack), kópé (droll, prankster, rogue, wag), jumbó (jack), csibész (badmash, bratty, cad, gutter-snipe, rascally, scoundrel, scoundrelly, urchin, wide boy). (various references) | |
Indonesian | bangsat (BEDBUG, cur), bajingan (crook, rascal, rogue, thief, tramp). (various references) | |
Italian | furfante (miscreant, picaroon, rascal, rogue, scalawag, scallywag, scoundrel, skunk, villain), fante (chap, fellow, foot soldier, infantryman, Jack), briccone (imp, miscreant, rascal, rascally, rogue, scamp). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 曲者 (ruffian, suspicious fellow, thief, villain). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | くせもの (ruffian, suspicious fellow, thief, villain). (various references) | |
Korean | 불량배. (various references) | |
Manx | steet (creep, creep of person, pimp, sneak), mitchoor (rascal, rogue), cleader (beguiler, cheat). (various references) | |
Norwegian | kjeltring. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | aveknay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | valete, tratante (kite, knavish, loon, ne'er-do-well, picaroon, rascal, rogue, roguish, scamp, scapegrace, sinner, sirrah, spalpeen, vagabond, wheeler-dealer), servente (attendant, boy, janitor, servant), patife (caitiff, cheat, crook, heavy, mean-spirited, miscreant, ne'er-do-well, rascal, rascally, reprobate, rogue, rotter, scamp, scapegrace, scoundrel, scoundrelly, spalpeen, vagabond, villain, wretch), maroto (cheat, crook, dratted, kite, rogue, roguish, scamp, scoundrel, spalpeen, wheeler-dealer). (various references) | |
Romanian | valet (body servant, boots, face card, footboy, footman, Jack, valet), ticãlos (a bad egg, base, cad, canting, cur, dark, dirty, felon, foul, heel, hound, impious, kite, knavish, knavishly, low-minded, mean, meanly, miscreant, paltry, perverse, picaroon, rapscallion, rascal, rascally, recreant, reprobate, ruffian, scab, scabby, scamp, scoundrel, scurvy, serpentine, shabby, skunk, sneak, sneaking, vile, villain, villainous, wretch, wretched), pungaş (biter, cheat, Cutpurse, duffer, fraud, gun, jockey, juggler, lurcher, manipulator, mountebank, pickpocket, pilferer, prig, rascal, rogue, rook, rough, scab, shark, snap, swindler, thief), pezevenchi (cheat, swindler), netrebnic (a dirty dog, good for nothing, knavish, picaroon, rascal, reprobate, scab, sneak, useless, vile, villain, worthless, wretch), hoţ (abductor, burglar, cracksman, housebreaker, larcener, picaroon, pilferer, prig, purloiner, reaver, robber, thief), escroc (bilk, biter, blackguard, blackleg, carpet bagger, charlatan, cheat, crook, desperado, double-dealer, duffer, faker, fraud, gambler, gamester, gouge, gyp, impostor, jockey, juggler, mountebank, rogue, rook, scab, shark, sharp, sharper, snap, swindler). (various references) | |
Russian | валет, негодяй (brat, coyote, dastard, gallows bird, gallows-bird, hound, loon, man of Belial, miscreant, rascal, reprobate, ruffian, scamp, scapegrace, scoundrel, spalpeen, villain, wretch), мошенник (bad egg, bad hat, bad lot, bilker, bunco-steerer, cheater, chevalier of fortune, chevalier of industry, confidence man, fleabag, fraudster, grafter, gyp, hoaxer, impostor, picaroon, rapscallion, rascal, ratbag, sham, sharpy, swindler), плут;валет. (various references) | |
Scottish | slaightear (rascal, rogue), faochaire. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | podlac (cad, heel, scoundrel), momče, žandar (police constable). (various references) | |
Spanish | bribón (dog, rascal, scoundrel, varmint, villain, wily). (various references) | |
Swedish | knekt (Jack, pawn, soldier), kanalje (blackguard, canaille, cheat, swindler). (various references) | |
Thai | คนโกง (คำเก่า). (various references) | |
Turkish | vale (Jack, vole), dolandırıcı (adventurer, bilker, carpet bagger, cheat, cheater, chiseler, chiseller, confidence man, confidence trickster, crook, crooked, deceitful, double-dealer, faker, fakir, fiddler, fraud, fraudulent, grifter, gyp, hustler, impostor, lurcher, rogue, sham, shark, sharp, spieler, swindler, Twicer), üçkâğıtçı (blackleg, cheat, chiseler, chiseller, confidence man, confidence trickster, grifter, guileful, humbug, knavish, sharper, swindler, trickish, trickster, tricksy, tricky, wangler). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | шельма (bastard), шахрай (beat, bilker, charlatan, cheat, deceiver, doer, gambler, jockey, phony, picaroon, prick, racketeer, rascal, scalawag, scallawag, scallywag, shark, sharp, sharper, swindler), валет. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | kẻ bất lương (malefactor, malfeasant, picaroon, shark), kẻ đểu giả (rapscallion). (various references) | |
Welsh | iangwr (youth), cnaf (rascal). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "knave": knaveries, knavery, knaves. (additional references) | |
| |
"Knave" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Ganaveh, gnave, Kaf, Kanaf, kanev, kanne, kav, kave, kavi, kavo, keave, kenaf, khaf, klava, klave, kna, knabe, Knaben, knaf, knaive, knape, knav, knaved, knef, knev, knif, kniv, knive, knuge, Konarev, krava, krave, Kunale, Kunavi, Kunev, naevae, naf, nafe, nahe, naje, Nanven, naqe, nav, nava, navea, Naveh, navek, Navet, navey, navi, navke, navn, navo, Navvabi, naxe, neev, niev, nive, nuve, nvu, Unavem. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "knave" (pronounced nā"v) |
| 3 | n ā" v | nave. |
| 2 | -ā" v | behave, brave, cave, concave, crave, deprave, engrave, enslave, forgave, gave, grave, lave, misbehave, pave, rave, save, shave, shortwave, slave, stave, waive, wave. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-k-n-v" | |
-1 letter: kane, nave, vane, vena. | |
-2 letters: ane, ave, kae, kea, ken, nae, van. | |
-3 letters: ae, an, en, ka, na, ne. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-k-n-v" | |
+1 letter: knaves. | |
+2 letters: klavern, knavery, vandyke. | |
+3 letters: klaverns, novalike, overrank, vandyked, vandykes. | |
+4 letters: breakeven, gavelkind, knaveries, overdrank, overtaken, riverbank. | |
+5 letters: breakevens, canvaslike, drawknives, gavelkinds, jackknives, lovemaking, overbaking, overtaking, riverbanks. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
