ken

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɛn

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-Germanic *kanjaną.

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).
   • The Treatise on The Paster Noster (15th c.)

     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.

Northern and Scottish dialects 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-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”). See also: can, con.

The noun meaning “range of sight” is a nautical abbreviation of present participle kenning.

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

1. (transitive, chiefly Scotland) To know, perceive or understand.
2. (obsolete, chiefly Scotland) To discover by sight; to catch sight of; to descry.
   • 1662 Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogue 2):

     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.

   • Addison

     We ken them from afar.

   • Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida Act4 Sc5 line14

     'Tis he. I ken the manner of his gait.

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:ken.

ken (uncountable)

1. Knowledge, perception, or sight.
   • 1957, United States Congressional serial set - Issue 11976:

     These people, these 20 or 25, were in my ken. Senator Jenner. In his what? Mr. Greenglass. My ken, my line of vision, my knowledge.

   • 1977, Roulhac Toledano, ‎Sally Kittredge Evans, The Esplanade Ridge:

     On this occasion, I wrote to them: "Two more modest and deserving people than you are not in our ken; and it is but fitting that you receive this, preservation's most prestigious prize, for your selfless devotion to the cause through the years.

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     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.

   • 1999, Catherine Z. Elgin, Considered Judgment:

     Since nothing in our ken differentiates knowledge from luck, something beyond our ken is introduced to do so. But the conviction that we know something is small comfort when coupled with the realization that we cannot tell what.

   • 2012, Keith McCarthy, Nor All Your Tears:

     I couldn't see the funny side myself, but Tristan could; after a while he could hardly control his merriment, in fact, so that he collapsed back on the bed, continuing to chortle, more of his rather unpleasant teeth making an unwelcome appearance in my ken.

2. (nautical) Range of sight.
   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 59-60:

     At once as far as Angels kenn he views

     The dismal Situation waste and wilde ...

In common usage a fossil word, found only in the phrase beyond one’s ken.

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:ken.

• (nautical range of sight): offing

• The New Geordie Dictionary, Frank Graham, 1987, ISBN 0946928118
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896,
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977
• “ken” in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, ISBN 978-0-19-861186-8.

Perhaps from kennel.

ken (plural kens)

1. (slang, Britain, obsolete) A house, especially a den of thieves.
   • 1611, Middleton, Thomas, “The Roaring Girl”, in Bullen, Arthur Henry, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton‎, volume 4, published 1885, Act 5, Scene 1, pages 128–129:

     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.

   • 1828, Bulwer-Lytton, Edward, Pelham: or The Adventures of a Gentleman‎, page 383:

     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?

   • 1851, Mayhew, Henry, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1, page 351:

     Up she goes to any likely ken, where she knows there are women that are married or expect to get married, and commences begging.

You can help Wiktionary by providing a proper etymology.

ken (plural kens)

1. A Japanese unit of length equal to six shakus

• nek

ken (plural kenne)

1. chin

ken (present ken, present participle kennende, past participle geken)

1. To know (a person, a thing), be acquainted with

ken

1. exclamative adverb

   ken (bras) ― so (big)

2. equality adverb

   (n'eo ket) ken (bras ha me) ― (he/she is not) so (big as me)

3. negative adverb

   (n'ouzon ket) ken

   (I don't know) any more

• khemmen, khèmman

From Middle High German komen, from Old High German kweman, from Proto-Germanic *kwemaną. Cognate with German kommen, Dutch komen, English come, Icelandic koma, Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (qiman).

ken

1. (Thirteen Communities) to come

• “ken” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

ken

1. skirt

• Audio

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• Rhymes: -ɛn
• IPA^(key): /kɛn/

ken

1. first-person singular present indicative of kennen
2. imperative of kennen

• nek, enk

From Proto-Finnic *ken, from Proto-Uralic *ke. Cognate with Hungarian ki and Ter Sami kie.

• IPA^(key): /ˈken/, [ˈke̞n]
• Hyphenation: ken
• Rhymes: -en

ken

1. (interrogative, dated) who; (when followed by a modifier in elative case, -sta/-stä) which one (of + a noun referring to people).
2. (indefinite, dated) whoever.

• Ken is old-fashioned in tone (or dialectal).

• See kuka.

• (who): kuka
• (whoever): kuka tahansa

Of unknown origin.[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈkɛn]

• Audio

  (file)

ken

1. (transitive) to smear

• kence
• kenés
• kenet
• kenőcs

(With verbal prefixes):

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/
• Hyphenation: kèn

ken

1. honorific for male and female children.

From Japanese 拳 (けん, ken, “fist”)

• IPA^(key): /kɛn/
• Hyphenation: kèn

ken

1. fist.

• “ken” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

ken

1. who

ken

1. Rōmaji transcription of けん
2. Rōmaji transcription of ケン

From Portuguese quem.

ken

1. who

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛn/

ken ?

1. laugh
2. smile

From Latin quĕm, accusative of qui.

ken (Latin spelling, Hebrew spelling קיין‎)

1. who, whom
2. whoever, whomever

ken

1. Nonstandard spelling of kén.
2. Nonstandard spelling of kěn.
3. Nonstandard spelling of kèn.

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

From Portuguese quem and Kabuverdianu ken.

ken

1. who

• kee

Compare German kein, Dutch geen.

ken

1. no

From Old English cennan (“make known, declare, acknowledge”), originally "make to know", causative of cunnan (“to become acquainted with, to know”); from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną.

ken (uncountable)

1. knowledge or perception

ken (third-person singular present kens, present participle kennin, past kent, past participle kent)

1. (transitive) To know, perceive or understand.

   Do ye ken John Peel with his coat so gay? - 19th century Cumbrian ballad

   • Dae ye ken Ken kens Ken?

     Do you know Ken knows Ken?"

ken

1. no

English can

ken

1. can
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, 1:29:

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

From Proto-Finnic *ken.

ken (genitive kenen, partitive keda)

1. who (interrogative)

• ken-ni
• ken-se
• koje-ken
• niken

• Zajceva, N. G.; Mullonen, M. I. (2007), “кто”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kɛn˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kɛŋ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [kɛŋ˧˧]

ken

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

ken

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

ken

1. wheel

• http://www.languageinindia.com/feb2013/zouphonologyfinal.pdf