Word.ws English Dictionary

kent

/kɛnt/

kent is the simple past and past participle of ken.

Noun

kent (plural kents)

  1. (Scotland) A shepherd's staff.
  2. (Scotland) A pole or pike.
  3. (euphemistic, slang) cunt.

Meaning of ken

Verb (1)

ken (third-person singular simple present kens, present participle kenning, simple past and past participle kenned)

  1. (obsolete) 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)

  1. (Scotland, transitive) 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
  2. (Scotland, obsolete) 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...

See all 14 meanings of ken

Verb

kent (third-person singular simple present kents, present participle kenting, simple past and past participle kented)

  1. (Scotland) To propel (a boat) using a pole.

Proper noun capitalized: Kent

Kent

  1. A maritime county in southeast England bordered by East Sussex, Surrey, Greater London, the North Sea and the English Channel.
  2. A river in Cumbria, England, which flows into Morecambe Bay at Arnside.
  3. A hamlet in Ellingham, Harbridge and Ibsley parish, New Forest district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SU1310).
  4. A district municipality of British Columbia, Canada.
  5. A coastal fishing village in the Western Area Rural District, Sierra Leone.
  6. An unincorporated community in Elmore County, Alabama.
  7. An unincorporated community in Pike County, Alabama.
  8. A ghost town in Colusa County, California.
  9. The former name of Kentfield, a census-designated place in Marin County, California.
  10. A town in Litchfield County, Connecticut.
  11. An unincorporated community in Nassau County, Florida.
  12. An unincorporated community in Stephenson County, Illinois.
Show 13 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A census-designated place in Republican Township, Jefferson County, Indiana.
  2. A former city and census-designated place in Union County, Iowa, disincorporated in 2003.
  3. A tiny city in Wilkin County, Minnesota.
  4. A town in Putnam County, New York.
  5. A city in Portage County, Ohio.
  6. An unincorporated community in Sherman County, Oregon.
  7. An unincorporated community in Culberson County, Texas.
  8. A city in King County, Washington, United States; a suburb of Seattle, named after the English county.
  9. A neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C.
  10. An unincorporated community in Marshall County, West Virginia.
  11. A surname from Old English derived from the place name.
  12. A male given name transferred from the surname, of mostly American usage.
    • Kent Syler, a professor of political science at Middle Tennessee State University, told Newsweek in an interview Tuesday evening that the "aggressive" gerrymandering will make it "very, very difficult" for Democrats to hold the seat in the 2022 midterms.2022 January 25, Andrew Stanton, “Jim Cooper Calls Out ‘Gerrymandering’ of Tennessee District, Will Not Seek Re-Election”, in Newsweek
  13. A royal dukedom.

Forms of kent

Noun
pluralkents
Verb
third-person singular presentkents
present participlekenting
past participlekented
pastkented

Origin of kent

Perhaps a variant of the verb cant.

Inherited from Middle English Kent, from Old English Cent, from Latin Cantium, from Brythonic *Cantio (compare Old Irish céite (“gathering, folkmoot, hillock”)), from Proto-Celtic *kantos (“corner, rim”).

Words formed from kent

Phrases with kent

Words that rhyme with kent

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about kent

What does kent mean?
Kent means a shepherd's staff.
What is kent the simple past and past participle of?
Kent is the simple past and past participle of ken.
What part of speech is kent?
Kent can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce kent?
Kent is pronounced /kɛnt/.
What is the plural of kent?
The plural of kent is kents.

Words near kent in the dictionary

  1. kenspeck
  2. kenspecked
  3. kenspeckle
  4. Kensucky
  5. Kensworth
  6. kent
  7. Kent bugle
  8. Kent bugles
  9. Kent County
  10. Kent Island
  11. Kent Islander

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kent (page history and authors); Kent (page history and authors); ken (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-kent.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Kent.wav.

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