ker-

American  

Also ca-,

1. an unstressed syllable prefixed to onomatopoeic and other expressive words, usually forming adverbs or interjections.

   kerflop; kerplunk; ker-splosh.

---

Etymology

Origin of ker-

Perhaps from Scots dialect car-, cur-, currie- (as in carfuffle, carwhuffle “to disarrange,” carnaptious “irritable,” curriebuction “a confused gathering, etc.”), based on car, earlier ker “left (hand or side),” from Scots Gaelic cearr “wrong, awkward, left-handed” (compare Middle Irish cerr “crooked, maimed”); variants without r probably reflect forms in r -less dialects

Example Sentences

In rejecting this argument, judges cited Ker v.

From The Wall Street Journal

Under its old leadership, Kering KER -0.11%decrease; red down pointing triangle was carrying too much debt in service of an overly ambitious strategy.

From The Wall Street Journal

Kering KER 0.34%increase; green up pointing triangle is in talks to sell its beauty business to L’Oréal OR 1.11%increase; green up pointing triangle in a deal that values the unit at roughly $4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, an early move by the Gucci owner’s new chief to revive the luxury giant’s fortunes.

From The Wall Street Journal

As Ker says: "Our greatest success has been taking one step at a time and saying 'Right, what's next?'"

From BBC

"We always had the ambition to go as high as we could, but we have probably outstripped expectations – certainly in terms of the speed in which we have got here," says director Humphrey Ker.

From BBC