genou

From the plural of Old French genoil, genoill, from Vulgar Latin *genuclum, syncopated from earlier *genuculum, variant of Late Latin geniculum, diminutive of Latin genū (“knee”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵónu. Cognate to Catalan genoll, Spanish hinojo, Italian ginocchio.

• IPA^(key): /ʒə.nu/

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genou m (plural genoux)

1. knee
2. lap

Only seven words in French ending in -ou have their plurals in -oux instead of -ous: bijou, caillou, chou, genou, hibou, joujou, pou.

• agenouiller

• Esperanto: genuo

• “genou” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

genou m (plural genoux)

1. Alternative form of g'nou