Word.ws English Dictionary

kena

More pronunciations (2)Fewer pronunciations

Singapore/ˈkənɑ/Malaysia/ˈkənə/

kena is the alternative form of quena.

Verb

kena (invariable)

  1. (ambitransitive, invariable) To experience, receive, suffer, get or be affected by (something negative).
    • They all kena food poisoning.
    • If they ever catch you jaywalking, you will kena.
    Synonyms:
    got, get it
  2. (auxiliary, invariable) Used before a verb to indicate the adversative passive voice.
    • He kena fine $10.
    • My job application kena rejected.
    Synonyms:
    got

Meaning of quena

Noun

quena (plural quenas)

  1. A traditional flute of the Andes.
    • One song the group performed on Thursday, “La Partida,” featured lovely bell harmonics from the guitars, a shifting pattern of cross‐rhythms on the guitar‐like charango, and a quena lead.1978 April 14, “Music: Inti‐Illimani, From the Andes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Synonyms of kena

Forms of kena

pluralkenas

Origin of kena

Borrowed from Malay kena (“to be struck, hit, affected by”).

Words formed from kena

Questions about kena

What does kena mean?
Kena means to experience, receive, suffer, get or be affected by (something negative).
What is kena the alternative form of?
Kena is the alternative form of quena.
What part of speech is kena?
Kena is a verb.
How do you pronounce kena?
Kena is pronounced /ˈkənɑ/ (Singapore).

Words near kena in the dictionary

  1. Ken doll
  2. Ken dolls
  3. ken oath
  4. Ken'dhikulhudhoo
  5. Ken.
  6. kena
  7. kena sai
  8. kenacho
  9. kenachos
  10. kenaf
  11. Kenai

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kena (page history and authors); quena (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:

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