ken
/kɛn/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
pin pen merger/kɪn/
ken verb: to give birth, conceive, beget, be born; to develop (as a fetus); to nourish, sustain (as life).
Verb (1)
ken (third-person singular simple present kens, present participle kenning, simple past and past participle kenned)
- To give birth, conceive, beget, be born; to develop (as a fetus); to nourish, sustain (as life).
- 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.1524, Desiderius Erasmus, translated by Margaret Roper, A Devout Treatise upon the Paternoster
Verb (2)
ken (third-person singular simple present kens, present participle kenning, simple past and past participle kenned or kent)
- To know, perceive or understand.
- 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.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
- 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?1993, Mike Leigh, Naked (motion picture)
- To discover by sight; to catch sight of; to descry.
- 'Tis he. I ken the manner of his gate, / He riſes on the toe:c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- 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.1662, Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Dialogue 2
Noun (1)
ken (uncountable)
- Range of perception.
- I had somehow the impression that he was on the point of letting go the ladder to swim away beyond my ken.1909, Joseph Conrad, The Secret Sharer Chapter 1
- Knowledge, perception, or sight.
- 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.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 […]...
- Within our ken / The Nightingale—ah! Love, the Nightingale! / Her tender sweetness made our cheeks grow pale,1913, Louise Jopling, Poems
- Range of sight.
- At once as far as Angels kenn he views / The dismal Situation waste and wilde […]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...
Noun (2)
ken (plural kens)
- A house, especially a den of thieves.
- 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.1611, Thomas Middleton, “The Roaring Girl”, in Arthur Henry Bullen, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton, volume 4, published 1885, act 5, scene 1, pages 128–129
- 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?1828, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Pelham: or The Adventures of a Gentleman, page 383
Noun (3)
ken (plural kenim)
- Youth or children's group.
- Gilboa and Habonim Dror also run year-round programming, holding regional reunions (called kenim) up and down the state2016 January 15, Dan Pine, “Hike, swim, fix the world: Kids mix it up at Gilboa camp”, in The Jewish News of Northern California
- 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!2018 October 6, Meital Shapiro, “What It's Like to Be a Socialist Zionist in the U.S.”, in Israel News
Noun (4)
ken (plural kens or ken)
Noun (5)
ken (plural ken)
- The tsurugi (type of sword).
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Ken
Ken
- A diminutive of the male given name Kenneth.
- The vote was 213-209 along party lines. Republican members of the House Ethics Committee – Michael Guest of Mississippi, Dave Joyce of Ohio, Andrew Garbarino of New York, John Rutherford of Florida and Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota – voted present. GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado also voted present...2023 June 21, Haley Talbot and Kristin Wilson, “House votes to censure Democratic congressman who led Trump investigations”, in CNN
- Kensington in London.
- Kensington High Street — better known as High Street Ken after the nearby tube — is dominated architecturally by […]2003, Rob Humphreys, The Rough Guide to London, page 327
- The ladies (and gentlemen) of South Ken and Chelsea do like their raw food, and Daphne's does a terrific tuna tartare with avocado and wild fennel, black figs, gorgonzola and hazelnuts; […]2015, James Sherwood, James Sherwood's Discriminating Guide to London
- Synonym of Ken doll.
- After the ceremony, the "Barbies and Kens" (excluding Tommy and Britney) gathered at Lindsay's mansion to have a barbeque party. They laughed and talked about good times and vowed to remain friends forever.2007, Vanessa Rose Lee, The Beauty Queen and the School Nerd
- Synonyms:
- Ken doll
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Ken
Ken (plural Kens)
- A surname.
ken meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
ken in Hindi
- केन
ken in Tamil
- உற்றறியும் திறன், அறிவுக்கு எட்டிய
ken in Marathi
- केनकडे
ken in Urdu
- بدنام گھر, بصیرت, بینش, نظر, آگاہ ہونا, آگاہ کروانا
More languagesFewer languages
- ken in Bengali
- ব্যাপক দৃষ্টি ক্ষমতা, জানা, পরিচিত হওয়া, অবগত হওয়া
- ken in Telugu
- కెన్
- ken in Malayalam
- അറിവ്, അറിവിന്റെ സീമ, അറിവിന്റെപരിധി, ചിന്താപരിധി
- ken in Kannada
- ಅರಿವಿನ ಹರಹು, ತಿಳಿಸು
- ken in Punjabi
- ਕੇਨ, ਕੇਨ ਤੱਕ
- ken in Gujarati
- કેનને
- ken in Odia
- କେନ୍
Examples of ken in a sentence
- Now ah ken precisely what the cunt meant.1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 6:
- These people, these 20 or 25, were in my ken.1957, United States Congressional serial set, number 11976:
- 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.1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
- Since nothing in our ken differentiates knowledge from luck, something beyond our ken is introduced to do so.1999, Catherine Z. Elgin, Considered Judgment:
Synonyms of ken
Forms of ken
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | kens |
| present participle | kenning |
| past participle | kenned |
| past | kenned |
| past participle | kent |
| past | kent |
| Noun | |
| plural | kens |
| plural | kenim |
| plural | ken |
| alternative form (obsolete) | kene |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Kens |
Origin of ken
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.
Northern English dialects and Scots language 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.
From a nautical abbreviation of Middle English kenning, present participle of the verb kennen (“to make known, point out, reveal; to direct, instruct, teach; to know, perceive”).
Words formed from ken
Phrases with ken
Words that rhyme with ken
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about ken
- What does ken mean?
- Ken means to give birth, conceive, beget, be born; to develop (as a fetus); to nourish, sustain (as life).
- What is ken in Hindi?
- Ken in Hindi is केन. See Ken meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use ken in a sentence?
- Now ah ken precisely what the cunt meant.
- What part of speech is ken?
- Ken can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce ken?
- Ken is pronounced /kɛn/.
- What is the past tense of ken?
- The past tense of ken is kenned.
Words near ken in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ken (page history and authors); Ken (page history and authors); ken (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ken (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ken (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ken (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ken (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ken (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ken (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); ken (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ken (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ken (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ken (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-ken.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ken.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ken. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.