• IPA: /kɛn/
• (pin-pen) IPA: /kɪn/

From Middle English kennen, from Old English cennan, from Proto-West Germanic *kannjan, from Proto-Germanic *kanjaną.

ken (kens, present participle kenning; simple past and past participle kenned)

1. (obsolete) To give birth, conceive, beget, be born; to develop (as a fetus); to nourish, sustain (as life).
   • 1524, Desiderius Erasmus, translated by Margaret Roper, A Devout Treatise upon the Paternoster:

     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.

Northern and Scottish dialects from Middle English kennen, from Old English cennan 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 Western Frisian kenne, Dutch kennen, German kennen, Norwegian Bokmål kjenne, Norwegian Nynorsk kjenna, Old Norse kenna, Swedish känna, Danish kende. See also: can, con.

The noun meaning “range of sight” is a nautical abbreviation of present participle kenning.

ken (kens, present participle kenning; simple past and past participle kenned)

1. (transitive, mostly, Scotland) To know, perceive or understand.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     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.

   • 1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 6 ↗:

     Ah thought he wis being harsh, flippant and show-oafy, until ah got sae far in. Now ah ken precisely what the cunt meant.

2. (obsolete, mostly, Scotland) To discover by sight; to catch sight of; to descry.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene v] ↗, line 14:

     'Tis he. I ken the manner of his gate, / He riſes on the toe:

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC ↗, Act I, scene v, page 1 ↗:

     We ken them from afar.

• German: kennen
• Italian: comprendere, capire, intendere
• Russian: знать
• Spanish: conocer

ken (uncountable)

1. Knowledge, perception, or sight.
   • 1642 (indicated as 1641), John Milton, “That Church-governement is Prescrib’d in the Gospell, and that to Say Otherwise is Unsound”, in The Reason of Church-governement Urg'd against Prelaty […], London: […] E[dward] G[riffin] for Iohn Rothwell, […], →OCLC ↗, 1st book, page 4 ↗:

     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.

   • 1913, Louise Jopling, Poems:

     Within our ken / The Nightingale—ah! Love, the Nightingale! / Her tender sweetness made our cheeks grow pale,

   • 1977, Roulhac Toledano, Sally Kittredge Evans, The Esplanade Ridge:

     On this occasion, I wrote to them: "Two more modest and deserving people than you are not in our ken; and it is but fitting that you receive this, preservation's most prestigious prize, for your selfless devotion to the cause through the years.

   • 1999, Catherine Z. Elgin, Considered Judgment:

     Since nothing in our ken differentiates knowledge from luck, something beyond our ken is introduced to do so. But the conviction that we know something is small comfort when coupled with the realization that we cannot tell what.

   • 2012, Keith McCarthy, Nor All Your Tears:

     I couldn't see the funny side myself, but Tristan could; after a while he could hardly control his merriment, in fact, so that he collapsed back on the bed, continuing to chortle, more of his rather unpleasant teeth making an unwelcome appearance in my ken.

   • 2015, Brian Bates, The Real Middle Earth:

     It was an intelligence beyond human ken but integral to everything, perhaps most like the Great Tao of Eastern philosophy of the same period, and it flowed like a European form of Chinese chi.

2. (nautical) Range of sight.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗, lines 59-60:

     At once as far as Angels kenn he views / The dismal Situation waste and wilde […]

• Russian: кругозо́р

Perhaps from kennel.

ken (plural kens)

1. (slang, UK, obsolete, thieves' cant) A house, especially a den of thieves.

From Hebrew קֵן.

ken (plural kenim)

1. (Judaism) Youth or children's group.

From Japanese 間.

ken (plural kens)

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

From Japanese 剣.

ken (plural ken)

1. The tsurugi (type of sword).

• IPA: /kɛn/
• (pin-pen) IPA: /kɪn/

1. A male given name.
2. (colloquial, in combination) Kensington in London.
   • 2015, James Sherwood, James Sherwood's Discriminating Guide to London:

     The ladies (and gentlemen) of South Ken and Chelsea do like their raw food, and Daphne's does a terrific tuna tartare with avocado and wild fennel, black figs, gorgonzola and hazelnuts; […]

1. Surname.