knighthood

nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,537 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: knighthoods

Knighthood is the rank and code of an armed noble horseman. Receive a knighthood, the age of knighthood, the duties of knighthood.

In the middle ages it meant real military service owed for land, and the code of chivalry grew up around it later. In modern Britain a knighthood is an honour granted by the monarch, carrying the title Sir or Dame and no duties at all.

Definitions of knighthood

1nounknighthoodThe rank and code of an armed noble horseman.C1
“As a young squire, he trained for years in the hope of earning a knighthood.”

knighthood is a rank.

Where it comes from

Old English cnihthad, from cniht, a boy or servant, plus -hood. The word rose in rank as the office did.

Proto-West Germanic
*knehtahaidu
Old English
cnihthād
Middle English
knyghthode
English, today
knighthood

From Middle English knyghthode, knyȝthod, from Old English cnihthād, from Proto-West Germanic knehtahaidu, equivalent to knight + -hood. Cognate with Dutch knechtheid, dialectal German Knechtheit.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in History & Eras

Practise this word

knighthood in the wild

The concept of knighthood may have been inspired by the ancient Greek hippeis and Roman equites.
Knight
In the Early Middle Ages in Western Christian Europe, knighthood was conferred upon mounted warriors.
Knight
As the female equivalent for knighthood is damehood, the suo jure female equivalent term is typically Dame.
Sir
Awards of the knighthood are announced in The Gazette.
Knight Bachelor
The order is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See.
Order of St. Gregory the Great

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

knight

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