Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *knas- (which, with *-yos, yields *knaš-yos > knašs), from Proto-Indo-European *kn-es-, *kn-os-, from the zero grade of *ken- ‎(“to try, to hurry, to move”). A different hypothesis is that knašs might originally result from methatesis on nasks (q.v.). A third possibility is that it was a borrowing from Baltic German knasch ‎(“hurried, quick, agile”), although it is also quite possible that knasch was borrowed from Latvian knašs, since it was only found in Baltic varieties of German. Cognates include Ancient Greek ἐγκονέω ‎(enkonéō, “to hurry, to be quick and active”), Latin cōnorāri ‎(“to try, to attempt”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [knaʃ]