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knowledge

UK/ˈnɒl.ɪdʒ/US/ˈnɑ.lɪdʒ/
nounA2+Very common — you will meet it every day · #1,252 of 15,258neutral

Knowledge is everything you know and understand. General knowledge, to my knowledge, common knowledge.

It is uncountable, so nobody has knowledges — a fact that catches out learners constantly. To my knowledge is a hedge meaning as far as I am aware. Common knowledge means so widely known that nobody need be told. In philosophy, the classic definition of knowledge as justified true belief has been argued about for two and a half thousand years. Note the Knowledge, the London taxi test.

Unknown · CC BY 2.5

Definitions of knowledge

  1. 1nounknowledgeEverything you know and understand.A2+

    “He has a good knowledge of European history.”

knowledge is what is known.

Where it comes from

Middle English knowleche is know plus an obscure suffix -leche, which appears in almost no other surviving word. The formation is a genuine puzzle.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *ǵneh₃-

  2. Middle English

    knowleche

  3. English, today

    knowledge

Built from

  • cnawlece · Middle English — knowledge
  • knowen · Middle English — to know, recognise

From Middle English knowleche, knaweleche, cnawlece (“knowledge”), from knowen (“to know, recognise”) + -leche. Related to Middle English knowlechen (“to find out, acknowledge”). For more on the Middle English suffix -leche, compare freelage. Compare also Old English cnāwelǣċ, cnāwelǣċing (“acknowledging, acknowledgement”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in School & Learning

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knowledge in the wild

  • Early reflections on the nature, sources, and scope of knowledge are found in ancient Greek, Indian, and Chinese philosophy.

    Epistemology

  • Data mining is the analysis step of the "knowledge discovery in databases" process, or KDD.

    Data mining

  • Numerous academic institutions provide master's degrees specifically focused on knowledge management.

    Knowledge management

  • Various religions hold that humans should seek knowledge and that God or the divine is the source of knowledge.

    Knowledge

  • Philosophers use a great variety of methods to arrive at philosophical knowledge.

    Philosophy

1 / 2

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

the knowen family

knowledge

knowledge — used about once every 130 pages · #1,252 · point at the bar for the others