• (RP) IPA: /kiːn/
• (GA) enPR: kēn, IPA: /kin/

keen (comparative keener, superlative keenest)

1. (chiefly, Commonwealth) Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick#Adjective|quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.

   I’m keen on computers.

   I’m keen on you.

   She’s keen to learn another language.

   “Do you want to go on holiday with me?” / “Yes, I’m keen.”

   • 2000, Jane Green, Bookends, London: Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0-14-027652-7; republished as Bookends: A Novel, trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Books, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7679-0781-1, page 304:

     In fact, she doesn't mention the fact that I've obviously been avoiding her, just sounds genuinely thrilled to hear from me, and as soon as I mention getting together she suggests Monday, which is rather keen, even for Portia.

2. Fierce, intense, vehement.

   This boy has a keen appetite.

   • circa 1370–1390 William Langland, Piers Plowman; published as “Passus XVII”, in Walter W[illiam] Skeat, editor, The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman, together with the Vita de Dowel, Dobet, et Dobest, Secundum Wit et Resoun, by William Langland (about 1362–1393 A.D.): Edited from Numerous Manuscripts, with Prefaces, Notes, and a Glossary, [...] In Four Parts, part III (Langland’s Vision of Piers the Plowman, the Whitaker Text, or Text C; Richard the Bedeles; The Crowned King), London: Published for the Early English Text Society, by N[icholas] Trübner & Co., 57 & 59, Ludgate Hill, 1873, OCLC 270097042, page 285 ↗, lines 82–85:

     For men knoweþ þat couetise · is of ful kene wil, / And haþ hondes and armes · of a long lengthe, / And pourte is a pety þyng · apereþ nat to hus nauele; / A loueliche laik was hit neuere · by-twyne a long and a short.

     For men know well that Covetousness has a keen will / And a very long reach of hands and arms / And Poverty's just a tiny thing, doesn't even reach his navel, / And a good bout was never between tall and short.

3. Having a fine#Adjective|fine edge#Noun|edge or point#Noun|point; sharp#Adjective|sharp.
   • circa 1387–1400 Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Knightes Tale” from The Canterbury Tales; published in A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain, volume I (Containing Chaucer, Surrey, Wyatt & Sackville), London: Printed for Iohn & Arthur Arch, 23, Gracechurch Street; Edinburgh: Bell & Bradfute & I. Mundell & Co., [1795], OCLC 490490936, page 17, column 2 ↗:

     Before hire [Venus] ſtood hire ſone Cupido, / Upon his ſhoulders winges he had two, / And blind he was, as is often ſene; / A bow he bare and arwes bright and kene.

4. Acute of mind#Noun|mind, having or expressing mental acuteness; penetrating#Adjective|penetrating, sharp.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “A Louers Complaint”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. Neuer before Imprinted‎, London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, OCLC 216596634 ↗:

     For when we rage, advice#English|aduiſe is often ſeene / By blunting vs to make our wits more keene.

5. Acrimonious, bitter#Adjective|bitter, piercing#Adjective|piercing.

   keen satire or sarcasm

6. Of cold, wind, etc.: cutting#Adjective|cutting, penetrating#Adjective|penetrating, piercing, sharp.

   a keen wind

   the cold is very keen

   • 1764 December 19 (indicated as 1765), Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller, or a Prospect of Society. A Poem. Inscribed to the Rev. Henry Goldsmith, London: Printed for J[ohn] Newbery, OCLC 723180797; 3rd edition, London: Printed for J. Newbury,sic Newbery in St. Paul's Church-yard, 1765, OCLC 680758043, page 10 ↗:

     Chearful at morn he wakes from ſhort repoſe, / Breaſts the keen air, and carolls as he goes; […]

7. (Britain) Of prices, extremely low#Adjective|low as to be competitive.
8. (US, informal, dated) Marvelous.

   I just got this peachy keen new dress.

9. (obsolete) Brave, courageous; audacious, bold.

• (showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness) ardent, eager, prompt
• (having a fine edge or point) sharp
• (acrimonious) biting, cutting, piercing
• (acute of mind) acute, penetrating, shrewd; see also Thesaurus:intelligent

• German: begeistert, eifrig, heftig, kühn, scharf
• Italian: propenso, incline, entusiasta, pronto, desideroso, voglioso, disposto, intenzionato, preparato
• Russian: проница́тельный
• Spanish: entusiasta, ardoroso, fijo

• German: heftig, ungestüm, vehement
• Italian: veemente
• Russian: си́льный
• Spanish: vehemente, voraz

• Russian: прони́зывающий
• Spanish: cortante

keen (keens, present participle keening; past and past participle keened)

1. (transitive, rare) To make cold#Adjective|cold, to sharpen.
   • 1730, James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, A Hymn, A Poem to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton, and Britannia, a Poem, London, Printed for J. Millan, near Whitehall; and A[ndrew] Millar, in the Strand, OCLC 965786799; republished in The Works of James Thomson. With His Last Corrections and Improvements. In Four Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for A. Millar, in the Strand, 1766, OCLC 639856222, page 93 ↗, lines 1256–1259:

     smallcaps This is the pureſt exerciſe of health, / The kind refreſher of the ſummer-heats; / Nor, when cold smallcaps Winter keens the brightening flood, / Would I weak-ſhivering linger on the brink.

keen (plural keens)

1. A prolonged#Adjective|prolonged wail#Noun|wail for a deceased person.

keen (keens, present participle keening; past and past participle keened)

1. (intransitive) To utter#Verb|utter a keen.
   • 20th century, Stuart Howard-Jones (1904–1974), “Hibernia”, in Kingsley Amis, comp., The New Oxford Book of English Light Verse, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1978, ISBN 978-0-19-211862-2, page 243 ↗:

     Last night he had put down too much Potheen / (A vulgar blend of Methyl and Benzene) / That, at some Wake, he might the better keen. / (Keen—meaning 'brisk'? Nay, here the Language warps: / 'Tis singing bawdy Ballads to a Corpse.)

2. (transitive) To utter with a loud wailing voice#Noun|voice or wordless cry#Noun|cry.
3. (transitive) To mourn#Verb|mourn.

• keener

1. Surname