What does ken mean?
Definitions for ken
kɛnken
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word ken.
Princeton's WordNet
cognizance, kennoun
range of what one can know or understand
"beyond my ken"
sight, kennoun
the range of vision
"out of sight of land"
Wiktionary
kennoun
Knowledge or perception.
kennoun
Range of sight.
kenverb
To know, perceive or understand.
kenverb
To discover by sight; to catch sight of; to descry.
Kennoun
A diminutive of the male given name Kenneth.
Etymology: Northern and Scottish dialects from cennan originally “make to know”, causative of cunnan, from kenna, from kannijanan, causative of. Cognate to kennen.
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Kennoun
View; reach of sight.
Etymology: from the verb.
Lo! within a ken, our army lies. William Shakespeare, Henry IV.
When from the mountain top Pisanio shew’d thee,
Thou wast within a ken. William Shakespeare, Cymbeline.It was a hill
Of paradise the highest; from whose top
The hemisphere of earth, in clearest ken,
Stretch’d out to th’ amplest reach of prospect, lay. John Milton.He soon
Saw within ken a glorious angel stand. John Milton.Rude, as their ships, was navigation then;
No useful compass or meridian known:
Coasting they kept the land within their ken,
And knew the North but when the pole-star shone. Dryd.When we consider the reasons we have to think, that what lies within our ken is but a small part of the universe, we shall discover an huge abyss of ignorance. John Locke.
To Kenverb
Etymology: cennan, Saxon; kennan, Dutch, to know.
At once as far as angels ken, he views
The dismal situation, waste and wild. John Milton, Par. Lost.The next day about evening we saw, within a kenning, before us thick clouds, which did put us in some hope of land. Francis Bacon, New Atlantis.
If thou ken’st from far,
Among the Pleiads, a new-kindled star;
’Tis she that shines in that propitious light. Dryden.We ken them from afar, the setting sun
Plays on their shining arms. Addison.’Tis he, I ken the manner of his gate. William Shakespeare.
Now plain I ken whence love his rise begun:
Sure he was born some bloody butcher’s son,
Bred up in shambles. John Gay, Past.
ChatGPT
ken
"Ken" primarily means the range of knowledge or perception. It is derived from Middle English and is traditionally used in Scottish English. It can also refer to understanding or awareness. Additionally, "Ken" is used as a male given name in English-speaking cultures.
Webster Dictionary
Kennoun
a house; esp., one which is a resort for thieves
Ken
to know; to understand; to take cognizance of
Ken
to recognize; to descry; to discern
Kenverb
to look around
Kennoun
cognizance; view; especially, reach of sight or knowledge
Etymology: [Perh. from kennel.]
Wikidata
Ken
Ken is a musician and singer-songwriter, best known as guitarist of the Japanese rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel. He is also the leader, vocalist and guitarist of Sons of All Pussys and has released a solo album entitled In Physical. While in L'Arc-en-Ciel his name is stylized as ken.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Ken
ken, v.t. to know: (arch.) to see and recognise at a distance.—n. range of knowledge or sight.—n. Ken′ning (Bacon), range of vision: (Scot.) a small portion.—adj. Ken′speckle (Scot.), conspicuous—also Ken′speck. [Ice. kenna, orig. to cause to know. Cf. can and know.]
Ken
ken, n. (slang) a house. [Perh. Pers. khān, a caravansary; not conn. with kennel.]
The New Hacker's Dictionary
ken
1. [Unix] Ken Thompson, principal inventor of Unix. In the early days he used to hand-cut distribution tapes, often with a note that read “Love, ken”. Old-timers still use his first name (sometimes uncapitalized, because it's a login name and mail address) in third-person reference; it is widely understood (on Usenet, in particular) that without a last name ‘Ken’ refers only to Ken Thompson. Similarly, ‘Dennis’ without last name means Dennis Ritchie (and he is often known as dmr). See also demigod, Unix. 2. A flaming user. This was originated by the Software Support group at Symbolics because the two greatest flamers in the user community were both named Ken.
Editors Contribution
KEN
A person is called from barbies named KEN.
Submitted by rinat on February 10, 2020
Suggested Resources
ken
Song lyrics by ken -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by ken on the Lyrics.com website.
KEN
What does KEN stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the KEN acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.
Surnames Frequency by Census Records
KEN
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Ken is ranked #40144 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
The Ken surname appeared 546 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Ken.
47.4% or 259 total occurrences were Asian.
34.6% or 189 total occurrences were White.
9.1% or 50 total occurrences were Black.
5.4% or 30 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
British National Corpus
Spoken Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'ken' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3479
Written Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'ken' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1894
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of ken in Chaldean Numerology is: 3
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of ken in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3
Examples of ken in a Sentence
We welcome Texas' resolve to block this anticompetitive merger, and are pleased to announce that Attorney General Ken Paxton will assume a key leadership role in this case, along with (California) Attorney General (Xavier) Becerra and myself.
You can buy Talking Barbie anywhere, but you can't even special order Listening Ken.
Supreme Court's impossible to disagree with Judge Kavanaugh that, in a perfect world, Congress would take the lead when it comes to investigating misconduct and malfeasance by the President, but what Judge Kavanaugh seems to be implying here is not only that Congress should take the lead, but that the Constitution might itself foreclose independent prosecutors like Independent Counsel Ken Starr and Special Counsel Mueller.
Ken Stabler was a friend of my dad (Archie), what a prince of a guy. What a great leader.
The first possibility is precluded by statute( the Deputy DHS secretary is the' first assistant,' and Ken Cuccinelli isn't that). He hasn't been confirmed by the Senate, which knocks out the second possibility. And he wasn't at DHS for any time before Secretary Nielsen resigned, let alone 90 of the 365 days preceding her departure. That ought to be the end of it.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
References
Translations for ken
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- كينArabic
- kennen, kenGerman
- kenEsperanto
- conocer, conocidoSpanish
- کنPersian
- näkyvyysFinnish
- kenFrench
- aithnighIrish
- केनHindi
- kenIndonesian
- comprendere, comprensione, intendere, capireItalian
- קןHebrew
- ケンJapanese
- ಕೆನ್Kannada
- 시야Korean
- KenLatin
- gezichtskringDutch
- kenNorwegian
- rozpoznaćPolish
- kenPortuguese
- кругозор, знатьRussian
- kenSwedish
- கென்Tamil
- kenTurkish
- kenYiddish
- 肯Chinese
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Translation
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