kneed

Kneed is the past tense and past participle of the English verb knee. To knee someone or something is to strike with the knee, typically as a move in combat, self-defense, or sport. The action is performed by bending the leg at the knee and driving the knee into a target, which may be a body part or a ball.

Usage notes: In many sports and martial arts, kneeing an opponent is subject to rules and may be penalized as a foul or dangerous conduct. Knee strikes are common in various fighting styles and can target the torso, midsection, or legs, depending on the rules of the discipline. The verb is regular in form: he kneed, they kneed; the past participle is also kneed and is used in passive constructions, as in “he was kneed in the thigh.”

Adjective and technical usage: The form kneed is sometimes encountered in specialized or technical writing to describe components with knee-like bends or joints, such as a kneed pipe or a kneed brace. This usage is relatively rare outside specific fields and is understood to refer to a presence of a knee-shaped angle or bend.

Etymology and related terms: The verb knee derives from the noun knee, with the standard English pattern of adding -ed to form the past tense and past participle. Related terms include knee strike, knee joint, and kneeing (the present participle form used for continuous actions).