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keen

Pronunciation: /kiːn/

The English word “keen” has 14 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.
  2. Fierce, intense, vehement.
  3. Having a fine edge or point; sharp.
  4. Acute of mind, having or expressing mental acuteness; penetrating, sharp.
  5. Acrimonious, bitter, piercing.
  6. Cutting, penetrating, piercing, sharp.
  7. Of prices, extremely low as to be competitive.
  8. Marvelous.
  9. Brave, courageous; audacious, bold.

verb

  1. To make cold, to sharpen.
  2. To utter a keen.
  3. To utter with a loud wailing voice or wordless cry.
  4. To mourn.

noun

  1. A prolonged wail for a deceased person.

Etymology

From Middle English kene (“bold, brave, sharp”), from Old English cēne (“keen, fierce, bold, brave, warlike, powerful; learned, clever, wise”), from Proto-Germanic *kōniz (“knowledgeable, skilful, experienced, clever, capable”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”). Cognate with Danish køn (“handsome, pretty”), Dutch kien (“smart, wise, able”), koen (“daring, valiant, doughty,…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.