ken

Meaning

Verb

1. (Scotland, transitive) To know, perceive or understand.
2. (Scotland, obsolete) To discover by sight; to catch sight of; to descry.

Noun

1. (uncountable) Range of perception.
2. (uncountable) Knowledge, perception, or sight.
3. (uncountable) Range of sight.

Noun

A house, especially a den of thieves.

Noun

Youth or children's group.

Noun

A Japanese unit of length equal to six shakus.

Noun

The tsurugi (type of sword).

Synonyms

knowledge

cognizance

awareness

sight

competency

understanding

consciousness

proficiency

command

realization

learning

know

lucidity

competence

skill

grasp

grip

harass

heckle

hold

incommode

inconvenience

infest

intellect

irk

outlook

penetration

pester

pother

prospect

savvy

scenery

scope

sense

trouble

view

visibility

grate on

jar on

perception

acquaintance

intuitive feeling

ail

annoy

apprehension

badger

🦡

bedevil

bother

cognition

comprehension

Translations

connaissance

conocimiento

γνώση

besef

coscienza

bekendheid

Ken

Wissen

Wissenschaft

Bewußtsein

Begriff

conoscenza

Kenntnis

bekende

consapevolezza

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɛn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: kennen

Inherited from Old English: cennan

Cognate with Western Frisian: kenne

Cognate with Dutch: kennen

Cognate with German: kennen

Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål: kjenne

Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk: kjenna

Cognate with Old Norse: kenna

Cognate with Swedish: känna

Cognate with Danish: kende

In summary

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.