English

knifegrinder

From knife + grinder.

A compound of knife + grinder

Old English cnīf

Middle English knyf ‘knife’

English knife

Proto-Germanic *grindaną ‘to grind’

Proto-West Germanic *grindan ‘to grind’

Old English grindan ‘to grind’

Old English grindere ‘one or that which grinds’

Middle English grinder

Today it means

noun One whose trade is the sharpening of knives on a grindstone.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / knifegrinder