Knight is the single best illustration of English spelling as a fossil record, because every strange letter in it was once pronounced. The k was sounded, giving kuh-, and the gh stood for a rasping consonant like the ch in Bach. Say all of it and you get something close to the Old English cniht — which is roughly what Chaucer's audience heard.
The meaning has climbed further than the sound has fallen. In Old English a cniht was a boy, a youth, a servant or attendant; the related German Knecht still means servant or bondman. It became a military follower of a king around 1100, acquired a specific military sense during the Hundred Years War, and rose gradually until it was a rank of nobility by the 1500s. In modern British use it is an honour conferred by the sovereign with no reference to birth or arms at all — a servant's word that ended up a title.
knight (n.) Old English cniht "boy, youth; servant, attendant," a word common to the nearby Germanic languages (Old Frisian kniucht , Dutch knecht , Middle High German kneht "boy, youth, lad," German Knecht "servant, bondman, vassal"), of unknown origin. For pronunciation, see kn- . The plural in Middle English sometimes was knighten . The meaning "military follower of a king or other superior" is from c. 1100. It began to be used in a specific military sense in the Hundred Years War, and gradually rose in importance until it became a rank in the nobility from 16c. Hence in modern British use, a social privilege or honorary dignity conferred by a sovereign as a reward, without regard for birth or deeds at arms. In 17c.-19c. a common jocularism was to call a craftsman or tradesman a knight of the and name some object associated with his work; e.g. knight of the brush for "painter." Knight in shining armor in the figurative sense is from 1917, from the man who rescues the damsel in distress in romantic dramas (perhaps especially "Lohengrin"). For knight-errant , see errant . White knight as "one's hero or champion" is by 1970. The horse-headed chess piece so called from mid-15c. Knights of Columbus , society of Catholic men, founded 1882 in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.; Knights of Labor , trade union association, founded in Philadelphia, 1869; Knights of Pythias , secret order, founded in Washington, 1864. knight (v.) "to make a knight of (someone), to dub or create a knight," early 13c., from knight (n.). Related: Knighted ; knighting . also from early 13c.
knight came in through Old English, and its spelling follows that family's conventions.
How that family writes these sounds
| /n/ at the start | kn- or gn-. The first letter is silent now and was not in 1400knee, knight, gnaw, gnat |
What gives it away on the page
| kn-, gn-, wr- | Silent now, fully pronounced in 1400. The letters are a recording of a lost pronunciation.knight, gnat, wrist |
Old English in the spelling guide · guess another word's family