Ken

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ken¹

  • /kɛn/
  • /kɪn/ pin pen merger

Sounds like Ken, kin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn

Where it comes from

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.

verb kens · kenning · 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.

ken²

  • /kɛn/
  • /kɪn/ pin pen merger

Sounds like Ken, kin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn

Where it comes from

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.

verb kens · kenning · kenned · 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.
  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:

ken³

  • /kɛn/
  • /kɪn/ pin pen merger

Sounds like Ken, kin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn

Where it comes from

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”).

noun

  1. 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.
  2. uncountable 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.
  3. uncountable Range of sight. At once as far as Angels kenn he views / The dismal Situation waste and wilde […]

ken⁴

  • /kɛn/
  • /kɪn/ pin pen merger

Sounds like Ken, kin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn

Where it comes from

Of unknown origin. Perhaps from kennel.

noun kens · kene

  1. UK, regional, slang 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.

ken⁵

  • /kɛn/
  • /kɪn/ pin pen merger

Sounds like Ken, kin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn

Where it comes from

From Hebrew קֵן (qēn, “nest”).

noun kenim

  1. Judaism Youth or children's group. Gilboa and Habonim Dror also run year-round programming, holding regional reunions (called kenim) up and down the state

ken⁶

  • /kɛn/
  • /kɪn/ pin pen merger

Sounds like Ken, kin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Japanese 間.

noun kens · ken

  1. A Japanese unit of length equal to six shakus.

ken⁷

  • /kɛn/
  • /kɪn/ pin pen merger

Sounds like Ken, kin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Japanese 剣.

noun ken

  1. The tsurugi (type of sword).

Ken⁸

  • /kɛn/
  • /kɪn/ pin pen merger

Sounds like ken, kin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn

proper noun

  1. 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
  2. colloquial, in compounds Kensington in London. Kensington High Street — better known as High Street Ken after the nearby tube — is dominated architecturally by […]
  3. 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.

Ken⁹

  • /kɛn/
  • /kɪn/ pin pen merger

Sounds like ken, kin (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛn

proper noun Kens

  1. A surname.

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