Word of the day · 19 July 2026
knell
/nɛl/
noun
The sound of a bell rung slowly for a death or funeral; a signal of ending.
In a sentence
- The church knell carried across the fields at dusk.
- Cheap imports sounded the knell for the old mill.
- A single knell marked the end of the ceremony.
In an image
Origin
From Old English cnyll (sound of a bell), related to cnyllan (to knell or toll).
History
Parish bells once announced death with a slow knell distinct from peals of joy. Writers extended the word to any omen of ending. Death knell became a fixed phrase for the sign that something cannot survive. The verb to knell still appears in formal and literary English.
Nearby words
toll · dirge · omen
A bell that marks a close, not a celebration.