keen

adj

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, courageous”), German kühn (“bold, daring, audacious, hardy, valiant, venturesome”), Icelandic kænn (“wise, crafty, clever, able”), Faroese kønur (“expert (in, on), experienced, skilful, able, capable”), Scots keen (“lively, brisk; avaricious”). Related to Old English cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”). More at cunning, can.

1. Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.

   “I’m keen on computers.”

   “I’m keen on you.”

2. Fierce, intense, vehement.

   “This boy has a keen appetite.”

   “[N]euer did I know / A creature that did beare the ſhape of man / So keene and greedy to confound a man.”

3. Having a fine edge or point; sharp.

   “The tongues of mocking wenches are as keen As is the Razors edge, inuisible: […]”

   “Come thick Night, / And pall thee in the dunneſt ſmoake of Hell, / That my keene Knife ſee not the Wound it makes, / Nor Heauen peepe through the Blanket of the darke, / To cry, hold, hold.”

4. Acute of mind, having or expressing mental acuteness; penetrating, sharp.

   “For when we rage, aduiſe is often ſeene By blunting vs to make our wits more keene.”

   “So, when remote futurity is brought / Before the keen inquiry of her thought, / A terrible sagacity informs / The poet's heart; […]”

5. Acrimonious, bitter, piercing.

   “keen satire or sarcasm”

   “O lawfull let it be / That I have roome with Rome to curſe a while, / Good Father Cardinall, cry thou Amen / To my keene curſes; for without my wrong / There is no tongue hath power to curſe him right.”

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

   “a keen wind”

   “the cold is very keen”

7. Of prices, extremely low as to be competitive.
8. Marvelous.

   “I just got this peachy keen new dress.”

   “Oh, but they're weird and they're wonderful / Oh, Bennie, she's really keen / She's got electric boots, a mohair suit / You know I read it in a magazine, oh / B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets”

9. Brave, courageous; audacious, bold.

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: From Irish caoin (“to lament, keen”).

1. A prolonged wail for a deceased person.

   “[S]he went so swiftly that he could only follow her to the door. The large shape of the car swallowed her up; and the car twisted softly around the little drive and away to the London road. Minutes later he heard its Klaxon, just one sharp keen, like the harsh cry of a sea-bird.”

verb

Etymology: From Irish caoin (“to lament, keen”).

1. To utter a keen.

   “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. To utter with a loud wailing voice or wordless cry.

   “Pelicans fly below us with stiffly formal strokes, and gulls wheel and keen.”

   “Satiran, lost in his own grief, shuddered once, then lifted his head to the sky and keened out his loss to the heavens.”

3. To mourn.

   “I keened my Gran, I keened my babies, but then my words poured out of my grief. I don't have the full heart like that for Owen, sorry as I am for his goin. Without the heavy grief on me I can maybe think of the words easier.”

   “She sniffed and nodded and cried and wailed and keened for her husband, who would never come back to her.”