canivete

15th century. Borrowed from Old French cnivet (“little knife”), from Proto-Germanic *knībaz (“knife”),^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *gneybʰ- (“to pinch”).

The meaning "cane","rocket", was transferred from the group cana, canavela, canaveira, "cane".

• IPA^(key): [kaniˈβetɪ]

canivete m (plural canivetes)

1. knife, penknife
   • 1409, J. L. Pensado Tomé, editor, Tratado de Albeitaria, Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 89:

     Quando as ditas llandoas creçeren asy como Nozes, ou mais ou menos, traua dellas llogo et apretaas et fendeas ao llongo con canyuete agudo

     when these growths become big as nuts, give or take, grab them readily and squeeze them and cut them open lengthwise with a sharp knife

   • 1438, X. Ferro Couselo, editor, A vida e a fala dos devanceiros. Escolma de documentos en galego dos séculos XIII ao XVI., Vigo: Galaxia, page 172:

     e hus canibetes novos

     and some new knives

2. cane
   1. rocket
   2. (euphemistic, humorous) sexual intercourse

• (sex): foguete

• botar un canivete (“to have sex”, literally “to throw a rocket”)

• Canive

• “canibete” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “canivete”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “canivete”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “canivete”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

From to Old French canivet, cnivet (“little knife”), from Frankish *knīf (“knife”), from Proto-Germanic *knībaz (“knife”), from *knīpaną (“to pinch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gneybʰ-. Compare French canif.

• Rhymes: -ɛt͡ʃi, -ɛtɨ
• Hyphenation: ca‧ni‧ve‧te

canivete m (plural canivetes)

1. pocketknife, penknife (small razor with one or more blades and other movable and retractable accessories, which fit into the respective handle)
2. (informal) scalpel (sharp instrument used in surgery)
3. (informal, figuratively) skinny legs
4. (zoology) razor shell (Solenidae)

• → Hunsrik: Kanivett

• “canivete”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “canivete”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Inherited from Old Spanish canyuete, canivete (1291), either from Old Occitan and Old Catalan canivet, ganivet (“small knife”) (Catalan ganivet), both from Vulgar Latin *cnīfittus (“small knife”), from Vulgar Latin *cnīfus (“knife”), from Frankish *knīf (“knife”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gneybʰ- (“to pinch”).

• IPA^(key): /kaniˈbete/ [ka.niˈβ̞e.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ete
• Syllabification: ca‧ni‧ve‧te

canivete m (plural canivetes)

1. (dated or obsolete) a small single-edged knife; a pocketknife

• “canivete”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024
• “canivete”, in Diccionario histórico de la lengua española [Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 13th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 31 December 2022, →ISSN