cain

/keɪn/

cain is the alternative form of kain.

Meaning of kain

kain (countable and uncountable, plural kains)

(Scots law) poultry, etc., required by the lease to be paid in kind by a tenant to the landlord.
- hens[…] in most leases make a part of the rent, under the name of kain, and are generally kept for conveniency or profit.1798, Robert Douglas, General View of the Agriculture in the Counties of Roxburgh and Selkirk

The son of Adam and Eve who killed his brother Abel.
- According to the Book of Jubilees Cain got married to his sister Awan.
- And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to paſſe when they were in the field, that Cain roſe vp againſt Abel his brother, and ſlew him.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 4:8, column 2
(rare) A male given name from Hebrew.
A surname.

plural	cains

From Hebrew קַיִן (Káyin, “craftsman”), present since Old English.

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

What does cain mean?: Cain means the son of Adam and Eve who killed his brother Abel.
What is cain the alternative form of?: Cain is the alternative form of kain.
What part of speech is cain?: Cain is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce cain?: Cain is pronounced /keɪn/.

Adapted from Wiktionary: cain (page history and authors); Cain (page history and authors); kain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Cain.wav.

Cite this entry: “cain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.