ken

¹

[ken]

noun

1. knowledge, understanding, or cognizance; mental perception.

   an idea beyond one's ken.

2. range of sight or vision.

verb (used with object)

kenned, kent, kenning. 

1. Chiefly Scot.

   1. to know, have knowledge of or about, or be acquainted with (a person or thing).

   2. to understand or perceive (an idea or situation).

2. Scots Law.,  to acknowledge as heir; recognize by a judicial act.

3. Archaic.,  to see; descry; recognize.

4. British Dialect, Archaic.

   1. to declare, acknowledge, or confess (something).

   2. to teach, direct, or guide (someone).

verb (used without object)

kenned, kent, kenning. 

1. British Dialect.

   1. to have knowledge of something.

   2. to understand.

Ken

²

[ken]

noun

1. a male given name, form of Kendall or Kenneth.

Ken.

³

abbreviation

1. Kentucky.

ken

¹

/ kɛn /

noun

1. range of knowledge or perception (esp in the phrases beyond or in one's ken )

verb

1. dialect,  to know

2. dialect,  to understand; perceive

3. archaic,  (tr) to see

Ken.

²

abbreviation

1. Kentucky

Word History and Origins

Origin of ken¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English kennen “to make known, see, know,” Old English cennan “to make known, declare”; cognate with Old Norse kenna, German kennen; akin to can ¹, know ¹ ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of ken¹

Old English cennan; related to Old Norse kenna to perceive, Old High German kennen to make known; see _can ¹

Example Sentences

That didn’t happen here because Drozd, an Obama appointee, can recognize a factitious claim for standing when it swims into his ken.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He was also recruited to civic leadership roles that were beyond the ken of politically-hobbled government bureaucracies.

Read more on New York Times

When Mani audited a course on theoretical physics, it was generally assumed that the material would be "beyond her ken", Sur observes.

Read more on BBC

But Rome and its environs conceal many holy places beyond the ken of the Bible.

Read more on New York Times

Notwithstanding academic quibbles about the accuracy of Khrushchev’s interpreter, the communist leader seems to have been prescient beyond his ken.

Read more on Washington Post