knaak

Thieves' slang, presumably related to Rotwelsch knök, kneks (“guilder”); in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there was a small German coin called Knack(e), Knacker. Of uncertain origin:

• The word seems to be related to the regular word for "bone" in Germanic dialects, e.g. Middle Dutch knook, Low German Knaak (“bone”), from Proto-West Germanic *knokō.
• An alternative etymology was suggested A. Huizinga, deriving from Hebrew. He considered the word קַעֲקַע (“engraved stamp/mark”), in which case "knaak" could go back to kaʿaka via Yiddish or Bargoens, describing the stamped coin.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /knaːk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: knaak
• Rhymes: -aːk

knaak m (plural knaken, diminutive knaakje n)

1. (informal, Netherlands) a 2½ guilders coin

   Synonym: rijksdaalder

2. (archaic) a large, valuable coin

• → Sranan Tongo: knaka
• → West Frisian: knaak