Karen

¹ American  

[kuh-ren] / kəˈrɛn /

noun

plural

Karens,

plural

Karen

1. a group of people of eastern and southern Myanmar (Burma).

2. one of these people.

3. the language of the Karen, a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan family.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Karen people or their language.

Karen ² American  

[kar-uhn, kahr-] / ˈkær ən, ˈkɑr- /

noun

1. Also Karin a first name, form of Katherine.

2. Informal: Disparaging.

   1. a white, usually middle-class woman who is rude, demanding, and aggressive toward other people, particularly customer service workers.

   2. a person acting in an aggressive, entitled, rude way.

      He went full Karen on the poor store manager and threatened to get her fired.

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Karen British  

/ kəˈrɛn /

noun

1. a member of a Thai people of Myanmar

2. the language of this people, probably related to Thai and belonging to the Sino-Tibetan family

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Example Sentences

Sir Keir moved to replace the previous US ambassador Karen Pierce, a civil servant, with Lord Mandelson when US President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January last year.

From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026

Among the crises highlighted was AI encroachment, the subject of science and technology category winner Karen Hao’s “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 18, 2026

He recruited Karen Yung from ElevateED, a private school nonprofit, to run the Wellington school, called Wingrove Academy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

Mayor Karen Bass and union leaders would lobby the state government in Sacramento for more money.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026

And now it seemed to Walter that everyone in Monroe County was talking about his own relationship with Karen Kelly.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson