ken

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/
• (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /kɪn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛn
• Homophones: Ken; kin (pin–pen merger)

From Middle English kennen (“to give birth, conceive, generate, beget; to develop (as a fetus), hatch out (of eggs); to sustain, nourish, nurture”), from Old English cennan (“to give birth, conceive, generate, beget”), from Proto-West Germanic *kannjan, from Proto-Germanic *kanjaną.

ken (third-person singular simple present kens, present participle kenning, simple past and past participle kenned)

1. (obsolete) To give birth, conceive, beget, be born; to develop (as a fetus); to nourish, sustain (as life).
   • 1524, Desiderius Erasmus, translated by Margaret Roper, A Devout Treatise upon the Paternoster:

     To the soul this ghostly bread is the learning and the teaching and the understanding in the commandments of God, wherethrough the soul is kenned and lives.

Northern and Scottish dialects from Middle English kennen, from Old English cennan (“make known, declare, acknowledge”) originally “to make known”, causative of cunnan (“to become acquainted with, to know”), from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan, from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną, causative of *kunnaną (“be able”), from which comes the verb can.

Cognate with West Frisian kenne (“to know; recognise”), Dutch kennen (“to know”), German kennen (“to know, be acquainted with someone/something”), Norwegian Bokmål kjenne, Norwegian Nynorsk kjenna, Old Norse kenna (“to know, perceive”), Swedish känna (“to know, feel”), Danish kende (“to know”). See also: can, con.

The noun meaning “range of sight” is a nautical abbreviation of present participle kenning.

ken (third-person singular simple present kens, present participle kenning, simple past and past participle kenned or kent)

1. (transitive, chiefly Scotland) To know, perceive or understand.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     It was noted by them that kenned best that her cantrips were at their worst when the tides in the Sker Bay ebbed between the hours of twelve and one.

   • 1993, Mike Leigh, Naked (motion picture):

     Johnny: Is your name Maggie? / Maggie: How'd you ken that? / Johnny: It's just a hunch. Are you looking for the, uh, petulant dwarf?

   • 1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 6:

     Ah thought he wis being harsh, flippant and show-oafy, until ah got sae far in. Now ah ken precisely what the cunt meant.

2. (obsolete, chiefly Scotland) To discover by sight; to catch sight of; to descry.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], line 14:

     'Tis he. I ken the manner of his gate, / He riſes on the toe:

   • 1662, Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Dialogue 2:

     I proposed to the Mariners, that it would be of great benefit in Navigation to make use of [the telescope] upon the round-top of a ship, to discover and kenne Vessels afar off.

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene v, page 1:

     We ken them from afar.

ken (uncountable)

1. Knowledge, perception, or sight.
   • 1642 (indicated as 1641), John Milton, “That Church-governement is Prescrib’d in the Gospell, and that to Say Otherwise is Unsound”, in The Reason of Church-governement Urg’d against Prelaty […], London: […] E[dward] G[riffin] for Iohn Rothwell, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 4:

     So far is it from the kenne of theſe wretched projectors of ours that beſcraull their Pamflets every day with new formes of government for our Church.

   • 1913, Louise Jopling, Poems:

     Within our ken / The Nightingale—ah! Love, the Nightingale! / Her tender sweetness made our cheeks grow pale,

   • 1957, United States Congressional serial set, number 11976:

     These people, these 20 or 25, were in my ken. Senator Jenner. In his what? Mr. Greenglass. My ken, my line of vision, my knowledge.

   • 1977, Roulhac Toledano, Sally Kittredge Evans, The Esplanade Ridge:

     On this occasion, I wrote to them: "Two more modest and deserving people than you are not in our ken; and it is but fitting that you receive this, preservation's most prestigious prize, for your selfless devotion to the cause through the years.

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     Though he was out in the streets and away from the Firm and the Firm's ken, though he had work to do and action to relieve him, he was angry.

   • 1999, Catherine Z. Elgin, Considered Judgment:

     Since nothing in our ken differentiates knowledge from luck, something beyond our ken is introduced to do so. But the conviction that we know something is small comfort when coupled with the realization that we cannot tell what.

   • 2012, Keith McCarthy, Nor All Your Tears:

     I couldn't see the funny side myself, but Tristan could; after a while he could hardly control his merriment, in fact, so that he collapsed back on the bed, continuing to chortle, more of his rather unpleasant teeth making an unwelcome appearance in my ken.

   • 2015, Brian Bates, The Real Middle Earth:

     It was an intelligence beyond human ken but integral to everything, perhaps most like the Great Tao of Eastern philosophy of the same period, and it flowed like a European form of Chinese chi.

2. (nautical) Range of sight.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 59-60:

     At once as far as Angels kenn he views / The dismal Situation waste and wilde […]

In common usage a fossil word, found only in phrases such as beyond one’s ken and swim into one’s ken.

• (nautical range of sight): offing

• Frank Graham, editor (1987), “KEN”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN.
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• “Ken”, in Palgrave’s Word List: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[1], archived from the original on 2024-09-05, from F[rancis] M[ilnes] T[emple] Palgrave, A List of Words and Phrases in Everyday Use by the Natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham […] (Publications of the English Dialect Society; 74), London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1896, →OCLC.
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[2]
• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “ken”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Perhaps from kennel.

ken (plural kens)

1. (slang, UK, obsolete, thieves' cant) A house, especially a den of thieves.
   • 1611, Thomas Middleton, “The Roaring Girl”, in Arthur Henry Bullen, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton‎^[3], volume 4, published 1885, act 5, scene 1, pages 128–129:

     Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough, mill a ken, or nip a bung, and then we'll couch a hogshead under the ruffmans, and there you shall wap with me, and I'll niggle with you.

   • 1828, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Pelham: or The Adventures of a Gentleman‎^[4], page 383:

     Ah, Bess, my covess, strike me blind if my sees don't tout your bingo muns in spite of the darkmans. Egad, you carry a bene blink aloft. Come to the ken alone—no! my blowen; did not I tell you I should bring a pater cove, to chop up the whiners for Dawson?

   • 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, page 351:

     Up she goes to any likely ken, where she knows there are women that are married or expect to get married, and commences begging.

From Hebrew קֵן (“nest”).

ken (plural kenim)

1. (Judaism) Youth or children's group.
   • 2016 January 15, Dan Pine, “Hike, swim, fix the world: Kids mix it up at Gilboa camp”, in The Jewish News of Northern California‎^[5]:

     Gilboa and Habonim Dror also run year-round programming, holding regional reunions (called kenim) up and down the state

   • 2018 October 6, Meital Shapiro, “What It's Like to Be a Socialist Zionist in the U.S.”, in Israel News‎^[6]:

     Gavriella: At an annual movement conference. I went for the first time, and we proposed creating new kenim [branches] and it was approved, which is amazing!

   • 2007, David Gur, דוד גור, Eli Netser, Brothers for Resistance and Rescue, page 87:

     At the beginning of 1944 he was sent to Debreccen to operate the local ken and to organize self-defense.

From Japanese 間.

ken (plural kens or ken)

1. A Japanese unit of length equal to six shakus.

From Japanese 剣.

ken (plural ken)

1. The tsurugi (type of sword).

• jan ken po
• ken oath

• nek

• IPA^(key): /ˈken/ [ˈkɛn]
• Hyphenation: ken

kén (predicative kéeni)

1. they, them

kén

1. their

• E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “ken”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎^[7], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/

From Dutch kin, from Middle Dutch kinne, from Old Dutch kinni, from Proto-Germanic *kinnuz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénus.

ken (plural kenne)

1. chin

• kin

From Dutch kennen.

ken (present ken, present participle kennende, past participle geken)

1. (transitive) To know (a person, a thing), be acquainted with

• te kenne

ken

1. genitive plural of ka

From Proto-Brythonic *ken, from Proto-Celtic *kina (“on this side of”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe (“this, here”).

ken

1. exclamative adverb

   ken (bras) ― so (big)

2. equality adverb

   (n'eo ket) ken (bras ha me) ― (he/she is not) so (big as me)

3. negative adverb

   (n'ouzon ket) ken

   (I don't know) any more

From Middle High German kemen, quemen, from Old High German kweman, from Proto-West Germanic *kweman, from Proto-Germanic *kwemaną. Cognate with German kommen, English come.

ken (strong)

1. (Tredici Comuni) to come

• khemmen, khèmman

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

ken

1. than

   Synonyms: dan, bèdar, kédar

• “ken” in Martalar, Umberto Martello, Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo
• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

ken

1. skirt

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛn
• IPA^(key): /kɛn/

ken

1. inflection of kennen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

• nek, enk

From Proto-Finnic *ken, from Proto-Uralic *ke. Cognate with Ter Sami kie, Erzya ки (ki), кие (kije), Udmurt кин (kin) and Hungarian ki.

• IPA^(key): /ˈken/, [ˈk̟e̞n]
• Rhymes: -en
• Syllabification^(key): ken

ken

1. (interrogative, dated) who; (when followed by a modifier in the elative case) which one (of)
2. (indefinite, dated) whoever

• Ken is old-fashioned or poetic in tone (or dialectal), yet its inflected forms are common and standard. See the usage notes under kuka.

See kuka.

• (who): kuka
• (whoever): kuka tahansa

• “ken”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[8] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

Clipping of kéni, the verlan form of niquer.

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/

• Audio:

  (file)

ken

1. (vulgar, Verlan) Synonym of niquer
   • 2017, “Je m’isole”, in Dans l’arène, performed by Djadja & Dinaz:

     J’sais même plus laquelle j’ai ken, j’sais qu’elle kiffe la dégaine

     I don't remember which one I screwed, I know she loves the way of looking.

   • 2023, Greta Gerwig, Barbie:

     Elle peut tout faire. Lui, c’est juste Ken.

     She can do anything. He can just Ken/fuck.

Only used as infinitive or past participle.

Of unknown origin.^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈkɛn]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛn

ken

1. (transitive) to smear

(With verbal prefixes):

• ken in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Borrowed from Javanese ꦏꦺꦤ꧀ (kén), from Old Javanese ken (“particle before a noun (categorical or proper) denoting a person of some rank”).

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/
• Hyphenation: kèn

ken

1. honorific for male and female children.

From Japanese 拳 (けん, ken, “fist”).

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/
• Hyphenation: kèn

ken

1. fist.

Unadapted borrowing from Japanese 縣(けん) (ken, “prefecture”). Romanised according modified Kunrei-shiki romanization.

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/
• Hyphenation: kèn

ken

1. (historical, 1942-1945) Synonym of kabupaten (“regency”)

• “ken” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From Proto-Finnic *ken. Cognates include Finnish ken and Estonian kes.

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈken/, [ˈke̞n]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈken/, [ˈke̞n]
• Rhymes: -en
• Hyphenation: ken

ken

1. (interrogative) who?
   • 1936, N. A. Iljin and V. I. Junus, Bukvari iƶoroin șkouluja vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva:

     Ken se ono, arvaa!

     Who is it, guess!

2. (indefinite) whoever
   • 1936, L. G. Terehova, V. G. Erdeli, translated by Mihailov and P. I. Maksimov, Geografia: oppikirja iƶoroin alkușkoulun kolmatta klaassaa vart (ensimäine osa), Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-Pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 6:

     Ken arvajaa matkapoolen itsest - „oikiaa“, „kurraa“, „ettee“, „takkaa“, - se kiiree öksyy veerahas paikaas.

     Whoever determines the direction of a journey from oneself - „to the right“, „to the left“, „forward“, „backward“, - that [person] will quickly get lost in an unfamiliar location.

3. (relative) who, that

• V. I. Junus (1936) Iƶoran Keelen Grammatikka‎^[9], Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 100
• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 152

ken

1. Rōmaji transcription of けん
2. Rōmaji transcription of ケン

From Portuguese quem.

ken

1. who

• kien

From Proto-Turkic *kẹ̄ŋ.

ken

1. wide

• N. A. Baskakov, S.M. Šapšala, editor (1973), “ken”, in Karaimsko-Russko-Polʹskij Slovarʹ [Karaim-Russian-Polish Dictionary], Moscow: Moskva, →ISBN

From Proto-Finnic *ken. Cognates include Finnish ken and Veps ken.

• IPA^(key): /ˈken/
• Hyphenation: ken

ken

1. (interrogative) who?
2. (relative) whoever

• A. V. Punzhina (1994) “ken”, in Словарь карельского языка (тверские говоры) [Dictionary of the Karelian language (Tver dialects)], →ISBN
• P. Zaykov, L. Rugoyeva (1999) “ken”, in Карельско-Русский словарь (Северно-Карельские диалекты) [Karelian-Russian dictionary (North Karelian dialects)], Petrozavodsk, →ISBN

From Latin quĕm, accusative of qui.

ken (Latin spelling, Hebrew spelling קיין)

1. who, whom

   Dime kon ken andas, te dire ken sos.

   Tell me who you go with, I'll tell you who you are.

2. whoever, whomever

From Proto-Finnic *ken, from Proto-Uralic *ke. Cognates include Karelian ken and Ingrian ken.

• IPA^(key): /ˈken/
• Hyphenation: ken

ken

1. who?

   Ken hyö ollah? ― Who are they?

• N. Gilojeva, S. Rudakova (2009) Karjalan kielen Livvin murdehen algukursu [Beginners' course of Karelian language's Livvi dialect]‎^[10] (in Livvi), Petrozavodsk, →ISBN, page 10
• Tatjana Boiko (2019) Suuri Karjal-Venʹalaine Sanakniigu (livvin murreh) [The Big Karelian-Russian dictionary (Livvi dialect)], 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 100

From kan. Compare Maranao kan.

• (Standard Maguindanaon) IPA^(key): /kən/ [kɪɳ]
• Rhymes: -ən
• Syllabification: ken

kën

1. food

ken

1. Nonstandard spelling of kēn.
2. Nonstandard spelling of kěn.
3. Nonstandard spelling of kèn.

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

From kan, compare Maranao kan.

ken

1. food

From kennen.

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/

ken (uncountable)

1. (Late Middle English, hapax) recognition

• English: ken
• Yola: ken, kin

• “ken, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

ken

1. Alternative form of kyn

ken

1. Question particle used in yes-or-no questions.

• Nora Deering, Helga H. Delisle (1976) Mohawk: A teaching grammar (preliminary version), Quebec: Manitou College, page 10

• kön (Föhr-Amrum)
• koone (Mooring)

From Proto-Germanic *kunnaną.

ken

1. (Sylt) can, be able

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/
• Rhymes: -ɛn

ken m

1. laugh
2. smile

From Proto-West Germanic *kuni, from Proto-Germanic *kunją, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to give birth”). Cognates include Old English cynn, Old Saxon kunni and Old Dutch cunni.

• IPA^(key): /ˈken/

ken n

1. kindred, kin

• North Frisian: kinne, kenne

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/
• Rhymes: -kɛn
• Hyphenation: ken

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kain (“woman's skirt”).

ken

1. garment worn around the lower part of the body

• kain

• > Javanese: ꦏꦺꦤ꧀ (kèn) (inherited)

ken

1. particle before a noun (categorical or proper) denoting a person of some rank

• > Javanese: ꦏꦺꦤ꧀ (kèn) (inherited)

• "ken" in P.J. Zoetmulder with the collaboration of S.O. Robson, Old Javanese-English Dictionary. 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1982.

• kende (synonym)

From Portuguese quem and Spanish quien and Kabuverdianu ken.

ken

1. who

• kee

From Middle High German nechein, from Old High German nihein. Compare German kein, Dutch geen.

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/

ken

1. no; not a(n); not one; not any

From Middle English kennen, from Old English cennan (“make known, declare, acknowledge”), originally "make to know", causative of cunnan (“to become acquainted with, to know”); from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan, from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną.

ken (uncountable)

1. knowledge or perception

ken (third-person singular simple present kens, present participle kennin, simple past kent, past participle kent)

1. (transitive) To know, perceive or understand.

   Do ye ken John Peel with his coat so gay? - 19th century Cumbrian ballad

   Dae ye ken Ken kens Ken?

   Do you know Ken knows Ken?"

ken

1. no

Inherited from English can, from Middle English can, from Old English cann, from Proto-West Germanic *kann.

• IPA^(key): /ˈken/

ken

1. (auxiliary) to be able to
2. (auxiliary) to may, to be allowed
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Jenesis 1:29:

     Na God i tok olsem, “Mi givim yupela ol kain kain diwai na gras i karim pikinini bilong kaikai. Na yupela i ken kisim kaikai long ol dispela samting.

     →New International Version translation

3. (auxiliary) Expresses a wish.; may...

• John W. M. Verhaar (1995) chapter 10, in Toward a reference grammar of Tok Pisin: An experiment in corpus linguistics, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i press, →ISBN, page 144

From Proto-Finnic *ken.

ken (genitive kenen, partitive keda)

1. who (interrogative)

• ken-ni
• ken-se
• koje-ken
• niken

• Zajceva, N. G., Mullonen, M. I. (2007) “кто”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎^[11], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kɛn˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kɛŋ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [kɛŋ˧˧]

ken

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

ken

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• kin

From Middle English ken.

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/, /kɪn/

ken

1. ken
2. regard, liking
   • 1867, “ABOUT AN OLD SOW GOING TO BE KILLED”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 106:

     Ich aam a vat hog it's drue. Aar is ken apan aam.

     I am a fat hog, 'tis true. There is ken upon them.

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 49

• IPA^(key): /ken˧/

ken

1. wheel

• Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 41