New vs Knew

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New vs Knew
One of the most commonly confused words in the English language would be knew and new. It is actually very easy to confuse the two, considering that they both sound the same, and only one word is added to the other, but the meanings are entirely different.

New is an adjective, which is to say that it would always describe a noun. New means that the noun being described is original or updated. An example of a sentence that would use new would be this: I bought a new car. This means that the subject (I) purchased a car which was not previously owned yet. It may mean fresh or recently unveiled.

The word knew, on the other hand, is a verb. It is actually already the past tense of the word “know” which means to learn or to accumulate information, mostly used for facts or truths. For instance, one can say “I knew about the math equation from before”. However, it does not have to be used in relation to truths, but it can also be loosely used for a feeling of familiarity. It can be used as an outcome of an experience.

A good example would be “I knew about her from my interactions with her.” The knowledge of the subject (I) about the object (her) may be subjective because it only depends on the subject’s interactions with the object.

The etymologies of the two words differ as well. The word new came from the word “neowe” and “niowe”, both being words from Old English. These words also mean the same thing as the “new” is now, in modern English. Although also stemming from Old English, the word knew or know actually comes from the word “cneow” or “cnawan”. These words also mean the same thing as their modern equivalent.