Knelt and Kneeled Are Both Correct
To kneel is to rest on the knees. Its past tense has two accepted forms, split roughly along national lines.
To kneel is to rest the body on one or both knees. The past tense is contested: *knelt* is standard in British English, *kneeled* increasingly common in American, and both appear in edited writing on either side. It belongs to a small group of verbs — *learnt* and *learned*, *dreamt* and *dreamed*, *spelt* and *spelled* — where British English keeps the older -t form. The word is built directly on *knee*.
- To rest on the knees. *He knelt down.*
- Knelt — the British past. *She knelt.*
- Kneeled — the American past. *He kneeled.*
- Knee — the root. *A sore knee.*
- Genuflect — a formal bending of the knee. *To genuflect.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | kneel | Kneel down. |
| Past (UK) | knelt | She knelt. |
| Past (US) | kneeled | He kneeled. |
| Noun | knee | The knee. |
| Related | genuflect | Genuflect. |
- He knelt to tie his shoelace.British.
- She kneeled beside the bed.American.
- Genuflect means to bend the knee.Formal.
The -t and -ed pairs
- Knelt / kneeled
- Learnt / learned
- Dreamt / dreamed
- Spelt / spelled
- Burnt / burned — the -t forms are more British in each case
Old English *cneowlian*, from *cneow*, knee, from a Germanic root shared with Latin *genu*.
Is knelt or kneeled correct?
Both. Knelt is more common in British English, kneeled in American, and neither is an error.
Are knee and genuflect related?
Yes, through a common Indo-European root. Latin genu gives genuflect; the Germanic form gives knee.