ken

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kɛn/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English kennen, inherited from Old English cennan (“to make known, declare”),^[2][3][4][5] a causative of cunnan (“to know”) (see can),^[3][4] from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną,^[4] cognate with Dutch kennen, German kennen (“to know”) and Old Norse kenna.^[4][3] The sense “know” was probably influenced by kenna.^[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make known or declare: Old English, about 725, in Beowulf.^[2] The sense to know is from probably before 1200, in Layamon.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English kennen was a very common verb, meaning to teach, to know how and to recognize by sight.^[3] It survives mainly in Scots and northern English dialect, where it has displaced know.^[3][4][6] The noun, range of knowledge or sight, as in beyond my ken, is from the 1550s–1590s.^[3][7][5]

Timeline

• c. 725 – to make known.^[2]
• before 1200 – to know.^[2]
• 1590 – range of sight.^[7][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. One's range of knowledge or understanding: beyond my ken.

Verb

1. (Scots and northern English) To know or recognize.

Word family

• kenner
• kenning
• unkenned

Related words

• can
• con
• know
• cunning
• uncanny

Usage notes

A different ken, a house where thieves met, is vagabonds' slang from the 1560s, probably short for kennel.^[3][5] SOED also records a Japanese unit of length, ken.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press