# 'Knick' vs. 'nick' - To steal
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 30, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288 "2020-12-30T18:43:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/1 "2020-12-30T18:43:08Z")
A friend of mine notes when she has stolen a post by posting ‘Knicked.’ I’ve never seen the slang for ‘stolen’ spelled that way; it’s always ‘nicked’. I pointed this out to her (in a PM), and she says ‘knicked’ is a variant spelling. I asked her for a cite, and she told me to look it up on Oxford English Dictionary online. I don’t have a subscription. However, I have found no other etymologies where it is spelled ‘knick’, except for one (apparently from OED) from 1622 in the phrase ‘to knick a knave’. It sounds like a witty spelling for pairing ‘nick’ with ‘knave’.
Is ‘knick’ really a valid variant spelling?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/2 "2020-12-30T18:45:43Z")
Probably somewhere, but I’ve never seen it in the wild. Always “nick.”
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### Author:  [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/3 "2020-12-30T20:05:16Z")
Can’t find any such definition in OED online.
(I have access via my local library)
late news…
Can’t find “nick” either … that’s not right.
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### Author:  [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/4 "2020-12-30T20:17:20Z")
later news…
Found it. (nick)
Discourse, Why not tell me it’s too late to edit a post before i type
stuff in ? and then when i am forced to cancel, why ask if i really want to save
or cancel when i have no bleedin’ choice ?
'Ave a word with yerself will yer.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/5 "2020-12-30T20:21:57Z")
FWIW:
> **[The Grammarphobia Blog: Old Nick and English deviltry](https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2008/08/old-nick-and-english-deviltry.html)**
> Q: Please help. Endless frustration – unable to find where “knick,” the English slang term for prison, originated. Thanks so much.
>
> A: Oops, it’s “nick,” not “knick.” That’s why you’re having so much trouble.
>
> … Since the early 19th century, the verb “nick” has also meant to steal or pilfer.
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### Author:  [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/6 "2020-12-30T20:32:44Z")
Neither form is mentioned in **Grose**
**OED** (1950-ish, 2 vol) has only Nick (dated 1869, which would explain why Grose doesn’t have it)
**Partridge** - _A Concise Dictionary Of Slang_ has no word spelled Knick; none of the definitions of Nick match the OP. _A Dictionary Of The Underworld_ defines Knick as valuables, noting that it is short for Knick-Knack; and has the expected definition of Nick as to steal (with a cite for 1829 - see you, OED!)
Conclusion - Nick is correct.
j
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/7 "2020-12-30T20:55:55Z")
She responded with this:
[https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/knick](https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/knick)
1. Alternative spelling of _[nick](https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/nick#English)_
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/8 "2020-12-30T21:35:44Z")
the forms nicke, nycke, knick are in the OED, but it’s not clear to me if they can all apply to the sense in question (yes, “to knick a knave” is there, but was that supposed to be a normal spelling variant even back then?) Even if it was, that does not tell you if is considered correct _today._ No alternative spelling is listed by the ODE for instance.
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/9 "2020-12-30T21:53:17Z")
Anybody can edit Wiktionary. It is not a scholarly source. Maybe she edited it herself. That’s like doing a thesis with Wikipedia cites.
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/10 "2020-12-30T21:53:59Z")
there is an entry under knick as a variant of nick, to deny (obs., most of the quotations are \< 1600)
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/11 "2020-12-30T21:58:47Z")
I just Googled: [definition nick](https://www.google.com/search?q=definition+nick&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS868US868&oq=definition+nick&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3j0i22i30l2j0i10i22i30j0i22i30.4715j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)
1.
INFORMAL•BRITISH
steal.
“he’d had his car nicked by joyriders”
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/12 "2020-12-30T21:59:22Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> Anybody can edit Wiktionary. It is not a scholarly source. Maybe she edited it herself. That’s like doing a thesis with Wikipedia cites.
Anyway, except for “knick a knave” every single quote for slang nick spells it “nick”, but please double-check, I may have overlooked something
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/13 "2020-12-30T23:41:39Z")
Ask her from where she originally nicked knicked?
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2020, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/14 "2020-12-31T05:22:02Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I pointed this out to her (in a PM), and she says ‘knicked’ is a variant spelling.
I think it’s the kind of variant spelling more commonly known as a misspelling. 😉
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### Author:  [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2020, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/15 "2020-12-31T08:23:29Z")
How do you nick a post anyway?
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2020, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/16 "2020-12-31T09:41:59Z")
I had a similar argument with a relative who writes “whoops” when he means “oops”.
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### Author:  [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2020, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/17 "2020-12-31T09:58:47Z")
But at least there are places in the world where that is the common spelling.
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2020, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knick-vs-nick-to-steal/929288/18 "2020-12-31T10:22:40Z")
A propos, apparently one popular way to deny someone was to nick them with nay.