Monday, November 14, 2011

Know

Know \noh\ , verb;
1. To perceive or understand as fact or truth; to apprehend clearly and with certainty
2. To be cognizant or aware of
3. To understand from experience or attainment

The origin of know is Old English cnawan ("to know, perceive; acknowledge, declare") from Proto-Germanic *knew-, which derived from Proto-Indo-European *gno- ("to know"). English know covers a few concepts that other languages use at least two verbs to convey. Take, for example, French connaître and savoir. Connaître means "to know a person" or "to be familiar with someone or something." Savoir means "to know a fact," "to know by heart," or "to know how to do something." English know covers all of these meanings. German has four words for know: wissen ("to know"), kennen ("to be familiar with"), erkennen ("to recognize"), and können ("to know how to do something").

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