| Word of the Week--"knee" |
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Definition--knee in humans: the joint in the middle of the leg where the lower end of the femur articulates with the upper end of the tibia.
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Discussion--Most all of us can identify our knee
joint. The knee cap more specifically refers to the patella bone; the small triangular bone
at the knee between the long leg bones (femur on the top and fibula and
tibia on the bottom.)
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Etymology--Knee like many words that start with "kn" comes from Old English roots. Knee comes from kne
or know, which comes from the Old English cneo. These terms
are derived from the Indo European base genu- which means knee or
angle. The Germanic equivalent is kniwam and the Latin equivalent
is genu.
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| You can see these roots below in the Germanic
languages (German and Dutch) and the Latin root in the Romance languages,
French and Russian. |
Foreign Translations
| German: |
Knie (nt) |
| Dutch: |
de knie |
| French: |
genou(x) (m) |
| Italian: |
ginocchio |
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