keen

English Online Dictionary. What means keen‎? What does keen mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kiːn/
• (General American) enPR: kēn, IPA^(key): /kin/
• Rhymes: -iːn
• Homophones: Keane, Keene

Etymology 1

From Middle English kene (“bold, brave, sharp”), from Old English cēne (“keen, fierce, bold, brave, warlike, powerful; learned, clever, wise”), from Proto-Germanic *kōniz (“knowledgeable, skilful, experienced, clever, capable”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”).

Cognate with Danish køn (“handsome, pretty”), Dutch kien (“smart, wise, able”), koen (“daring, valiant, doughty, courageous”), German kühn (“bold, daring, audacious, hardy, valiant, venturesome”), Icelandic kænn (“wise, crafty, clever, able”), Faroese kønur (“expert (in, on), experienced, skilful, able, capable”), Scots keen (“lively, brisk; avaricious”). Related to Old English cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”). More at cunning, can.

Alternative forms

• keene, kene (both obsolete)

Adjective

keen (comparative keener or more keen, superlative keenest or most keen)

2. (chiefly Commonwealth) Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.

   I’m keen on you. ― I like you.

   • 2000, Jane Green, Bookends, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN; republished as Bookends: A Novel, trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Books, 2003, →ISBN, page 304:

     In fact, she doesn't mention the fact that I've obviously been avoiding her, just sounds genuinely thrilled to hear from me, and as soon as I mention getting together she suggests Monday, which is rather keen, even for Portia.

3. Fierce, intense, vehement.
4. Having a fine edge or point; sharp.
5. Acute of mind, having or expressing mental acuteness; penetrating, sharp.
6. Acrimonious, bitter, piercing.
7. Of cold, wind, etc.: cutting, penetrating, piercing, sharp.
   • 1764 December 19 (indicated as 1765), Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller, or a Prospect of Society. A Poem. Inscribed to the Rev. Henry Goldsmith, London: Printed for J[ohn] Newbery, →OCLC; 3rd edition, London: Printed for J. Newbury,^{[sic – meaning Newbery]} in St. Paul's Church-yard, 1765, →OCLC, page 10:

     Chearful at morn he wakes from ſhort repoſe, / Breaſts the keen air, and carolls as he goes; […]

8. (British) Of prices, extremely low as to be competitive.
9. (US, informal, dated) Marvelous.
10. (obsolete) Brave, courageous; audacious, bold.

Usage notes

Keen is often used to create compounds, the meaning of most of them being fairly obvious, for example, keen-edged, keen-eyed, keen-sighted, keen-witted, etc.

Synonyms

• (showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness): ardent, eager, prompt
• (having a fine edge or point): sharp
• (acrimonious): biting, cutting, piercing
• (acute of mind): acute, penetrating, shrewd; see also Thesaurus:intelligent

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

keen (third-person singular simple present keens, present participle keening, simple past and past participle keened)

1. (transitive, rare) To make cold, to sharpen.

Etymology 2

From Irish caoin (“to cry, weep; to keen”).

Noun

keen (plural keens)

1. A prolonged wail for a deceased person.

Verb

keen (third-person singular simple present keens, present participle keening, simple past and past participle keened)

2. (intransitive) To utter a keen.

   Synonyms: howl, wail

   • 20th century, Stuart Howard-Jones (1904–1974), “Hibernia”, in Kingsley Amis, comp., The New Oxford Book of English Light Verse, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1978, →ISBN, page 243:

     Last night he had put down too much Potheen / (A vulgar blend of Methyl and Benzene) / That, at some Wake, he might the better keen. / (Keen—meaning 'brisk'? Nay, here the Language warps: / 'Tis singing bawdy Ballads to a Corpse.)

3. (transitive) To utter with a loud wailing voice or wordless cry.
4. (transitive) To mourn.

   Synonyms: grieve, lament; see also Thesaurus:lament

Related terms

• keener

References

Anagrams

• Enke, kene, knee, kène, neek

Basque

Noun

keen

1. genitive plural of ke

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

• jeen (Ripuarian)
• kein (Kölsch; Westerwald)
• kään (eastern Moselle Franconian)

Etymology

From Middle High German (en) kein, from nechein, from Old High German nehhein. Cognate with German kein, Dutch geen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /keːn/

Determiner

keen

1. (most of Ripuarian, western Moselle Franconian) no, not a, not any

Declension

• The declension is equivalent to that of een (“one”), which see. Keen has additional plural forms, however, which are the same as the feminine forms (but dative plural usually keene). Moreover, keen cannot be used after other determiners.

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʰeːn/

Particle

keen

1. no, not any, not a

Declension

¹Form used when the plural of the noun is the same as the singular

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Middle High German kein, from the merger of dechein, dehein ("someone; anyone", from Old High German dehein) and Middle High German nechein, nehein ("not any", from Old High German nihein).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /keːn/
  • Rhymes: -eːn

Particle

keen m or n

1. no, not any, not a

Declension

Narragansett

Etymology

From Proto-Algonquian *kiᐧlawa. Compare Ojibwe giin.

Pronoun

keèn

1. you, thou (second-person singular pronoun)

Usage notes

Usually precedes a verb or noun, like neèn but unlike ewò.

References

Further reading

• Roger Williams (1643) A Key into the Language of America, London: Gregory Dexter, →OCLC, page 2

Somali

Verb

keen

1. bring

Yola

Alternative forms

• keéne

Etymology

From Middle English kene, from Old English cēne.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kiːn/
• Homophones: keeine, kinge

Adjective

keen

1. sharp

References

• 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