knock on wood
- idiom
- Informal
:
tocar madera
- "And we've all got our health, knock on wood."
But I'm really excited that it's it's doing well, knock on wood.
- But I'm really excited that it's it's doing well, knock on wood.
- They have, you know, I don't know what they are they but here I am and I have this wonderful, knock on wood, full life.
- But you know, back then I had to make a lot of those arguments and you know, knock on wood, we we still haven't seen any seizure.
- You did this for so long, so Incognito, literally straight out of a movie, which is why finally, knock on wood here, we're getting a movie made.
- And nobody, I'll knock on wood, nobody's had any sort of cardiac issue at all in, you know, in in the cohort that we've studied.
- Wish for something not to happen and then don't knock on wood.
- Like at the moment, and I think I'm coming out of this era, knock on wood soon, but like at the moment, I could never have a relationship.
Examples
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Knock on wood, we've pretty much eliminated that now.
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Now, Curry's ankle looks good so far (knock on wood).
Blog text (30) -
But, knock on wood, I still have my health.
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So knock on wood, I may have figured out good lighting finally.
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But you know, back then I had to make a lot of those arguments and you know, knock on wood, we we still haven't seen any seizure.
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And nobody, I'll knock on wood, nobody's had any sort of cardiac issue at all in, you know, in in the cohort that we've studied.
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If I get the promotion I've been hoping for, I will work harder, knock on wood.
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We're on track to meet our deadline, knock on wood.
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She has been feeling great lately, knock on wood, and hopes it continues.
Synonyms
20
3.5
To hope something will turn out well
You say it to try to stop bad luck after saying something good
Antonyms
How Superstitious
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally names the action 'knock on wood', so the parts compose to a plausible physical action, but the conventional meaning 'to avert bad luck' is a culturally specific ritual sense that cannot be fully derived from the words alone. Cross-linguistic parallels (e.g., tocar madera, toucher du bois) make this sense somewhat inferable for many learners, but it still requires cultural/pragmatic knowledge, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Knock on wood may come from an old idea that trees held helpful spirits, so people would knock on wood to ask the spirits to protect their good luck. That's why today we knock on something or say the phrase to avoid 'bad luck' after mentioning something good.