water on the knee
1
6.5
- noun
- Specialized
- Swelling and stiffness are common symptoms when someone has water on the knee.
Examples
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The doctor explained that my water on the knee was due to an injury during soccer practice.
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He had to have his water on the knee drained several times over the summer.
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He has water on the knee from playing football.
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My doctor said I have water on the knee.
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Swelling and stiffness are common symptoms when someone has water on the knee.
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The doctor explained that my water on the knee was due to an injury during soccer practice.
-
He had to have his water on the knee drained several times over the summer.
Synonyms
102
3.7
A raised, often painful area on the body after injury or infection
1
9.9
Swelling that happens when too much fluid builds up in parts of the body
A joint that becomes swollen, red, and painful because it has too much fluid inside
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally composes 'water' (fluid) + 'on' (location) + 'knee' (body part), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer that it refers to fluid at the knee — i.e. swelling caused by joint fluid. This is a descriptive, non-idiomatic medical phrasing and is cross-linguistically ordinary, so its meaning is transparently derivable from the parts.
Etymology
The phrase water on the knee may come from the simple image of a swollen knee that looks and feels like there is water on the knee. So it means 'swelling' caused by extra fluid inside the knee.