keen
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kiːn/
- (General American) enPR: kēn, IPA(key): /kin/
Audio (GA) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -iːn
- Homophones: Keane, Keene
Etymology 1Edit
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”), Scots keen (“lively, brisk; avaricious”). Related to Old English cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”). More at cunning, can.
Alternative formsEdit
AdjectiveEdit
keen (comparative keener or more keen, superlative keenest or most keen)
- (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 computers.
- I’m keen on you. ― I like you.
- She’s keen to learn another language.
- “Do you want to go on holiday with me?” “Yes, I’m keen.”
- c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii, page 268, column 2:
- 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.
- Fierce, intense, vehement.
- This boy has a keen appetite.
- c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii, page 176, column 1:
- [N]euer did I know / A creature that did beare the ſhape of man / So keene and greedy to confound a man.
- Having a fine edge or point; sharp.
- c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, Act V, scene ii, page 139, column 1:
- The tongues of mocking wenches are as keen
As is the Razors edge, inuisible: […]
- c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, Act I, scene v, page 134, column 2:
- Come thick Night, / And pall thee in the dunneſt ſmoake of Hell, / That my keene Knife ſee not the Wound it makes, / Nor Heauen peepe through the Blanket of the darke, / To cry, hold, hold.
- Acute of mind, having or expressing mental acuteness; penetrating, sharp.
- 1609, William Shakespeare, “A Louers Complaint”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […][2], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
- For when we rage, aduiſe is often ſeene
By blunting vs to make our wits more keene.
- 1781 January, William Cowper, “Table Talk”, in Poems, 4th edition, London: Printed for J. Johnson, No. 72, St. Paul's Church Yard, published 1782, →OCLC, lines 492–495, page 11:
- So, when remote futurity is brought / Before the keen inquiry of her thought, / A terrible sagacity informs / The poet's heart; […]
- Acrimonious, bitter, piercing.
- keen satire or sarcasm
- c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 9, column 2:
- O lawfull let it be / That I have roome with Rome to curſe a while, / Good Father Cardinall, cry thou Amen / To my keene curſes; for without my wrong / There is no tongue hath power to curſe him right.
- Of cold, wind, etc.: cutting, penetrating, piercing, sharp.
- a keen wind
- the cold is very keen
- 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; […]
- (Britain) Of prices, extremely low as to be competitive.
- (US, informal, dated) Marvelous.
- I just got this peachy keen new dress.
- 1985, Douglas Adams, The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts, New York, N.Y.: Harmony Books, →ISBN, page 82:
- Well our hosts here attacked us with a fantastic Dismodulating Anti Phase stun ray and then invited us to this amazingly keen meal by way of making it up to us.
- (obsolete) Brave, courageous; audacious, bold.
Usage notesEdit
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.
SynonymsEdit
- (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 termsEdit
terms derived from keen
TranslationsEdit
showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness
|
fierce, intense, vehement
|
sharp-edged
acute of mind
|
acrimonious, bitter, piercing
of cold, wind, etc.: cutting, penetrating
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
VerbEdit
keen (third-person singular simple present keens, present participle keening, simple past and past participle keened)
- (transitive, rare) To make cold, to sharpen.
- 1730, James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, lines 1256–1259, page 93:
- This is the pureſt exerciſe of health, / The kind refreſher of the ſummer-heats; / Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening flood, / Would I weak-ſhivering linger on the brink.
Etymology 2Edit
From Irish caoin (“to cry, weep; to keen”).
NounEdit
keen (plural keens)
- A prolonged wail for a deceased person.
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/5/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, London: W[illiam] Collins Sons & Co., →OCLC, →OL:
- [S]he went so swiftly that he could only follow her to the door. The large shape of the car swallowed her up; and the car twisted softly around the little drive and away to the London road. Minutes later he heard its Klaxon, just one sharp keen, like the harsh cry of a sea-bird.
VerbEdit
keen (third-person singular simple present keens, present participle keening, simple past and past participle keened)
- (intransitive) To utter a keen.
- 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.)
- 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:
- (transitive) To utter with a loud wailing voice or wordless cry.
- 2000, Mercedes Lackey, Brightly Burning, New York, N.Y.: DAW Books, →ISBN:
- Satiran, lost in his own grief, shuddered once, then lifted his head to the sky and keened out his loss to the heavens.
- (transitive) To mourn.
- 1996, Virginia Warner Brodine, Seed of the Fire, New York, N.Y.: International Publishers, →ISBN, page 28:
- I keened my Gran, I keened my babies, but then my words poured out of my grief. I don't have the full heart like that for Owen, sorry as I am for his goin. Without the heavy grief on me I can maybe think of the words easier.
Related termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
AnagramsEdit
BasqueEdit
NounEdit
keen
Central FranconianEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle High German (en) kein, from nechein, from Old High German nehhein. Cognate with German kein, Dutch geen.
PronunciationEdit
DeterminerEdit
keen
- (most of Ripuarian, western Moselle Franconian) no, not a, not any
- Ich hann keen Belder. / Belder hann ich er keen.
- I have no pictures.
DeclensionEdit
- 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.
HunsrikEdit
PronunciationEdit
ParticleEdit
keen
- no, not any, not a
- Ich sin keen Becker.
- I am not a baker.
- Du host keen Grund fer sowas se denke.
- You have no reason to think so.
DeclensionEdit
Hunsrik negative articles
1Form used when the plural of the noun is the same as the singular
Further readingEdit
LuxembourgishEdit
EtymologyEdit
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).
PronunciationEdit
ParticleEdit
keen m or n
DeclensionEdit
| Luxembourgish negative articles | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural | |
| nom./acc. | keen | keng | keen | keng |
| dative | kengem | kenger | kengem | kengen |
NarragansettEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Proto-Algonquian *kiᐧlawa. Compare Ojibwe giin.[1]
PronounEdit
keèn
Usage notesEdit
Usually precedes a verb or noun, like neèn but unlike ewò.[2]
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
- Roger Williams (1643) A Key into the Language of America, London: Gregory Dexter, →OCLC, page 2
SomaliEdit
VerbEdit
keen
YolaEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English kene, from Old English cēne.
AdjectiveEdit
keen
ReferencesEdit
- Jacob Poole (1867), 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, page 49