Meaning

noun a tight cluster of people or things

noun any of various fastenings formed by looping and tying a rope (or cord) upon itself or to another rope or to another object

noun a hard cross-grained round piece of wood in a board where a branch emerged

originFrom Middle English knotte, from Old English cnotta, from Proto-West Germanic *knottō, from Proto-Germanic *knuttô, *knudô (“knot”); probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnod- (“to bind”). See also Old High German knoto (German Knoten, Dutch knot, Low German Knütte; also Old Norse knútr > Danish knude, Swedish knut, Norwegian knute, Faroese knútur, Icelandic hnútur; also Latin nōdus and…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0