keen
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: simple
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.
Inflected forms:
form: keener
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: more keen
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: keenest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: most keen
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: keene
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: kene
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: keens
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.
pos: adj
tags: Commonwealth
examples: I’m keen on computers.
I’m keen on you.
She’s keen to learn another language.
“Do you want to go on holiday with me?” “Yes, I’m keen.”
Ophe[lia] You are keene my Lord, you are keene. / Ham[let] It would coſt you a groaning, to take off my edge.
In fact, she doesn't mention the fact that I've obviously been avoiding her, just sounds genuinely thrilled to hear from me, and as soon as I mention getting together she suggests Monday, which is rather keen, even for Portia.
gloss: Fierce, intense, vehement.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
Her love of a good dinner herself, and her still keener love of the approbation she won by setting it before others, kept up perpetual warfare with her savingness […]
gloss: Having a fine edge or point; sharp.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
gloss: Acute of mind, having or expressing mental acuteness; penetrating, sharp.
pos: adj
examples: 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; […]
These books will fill, and well fill, certain stretches of life […] But in old or nervous or solemnest or dying hours, when one needs the impalpably soothing and vitalizing influences of abysmic Nature, or its affinities in literature or human society, and the soul resents the keenest mere intellection, they will not be sought for.
gloss: Acrimonious, bitter, piercing.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
gloss: Of cold, wind, etc.: cutting, penetrating, piercing, sharp.
pos: adj
examples: a keen wind
the cold is very keen
Chearful at morn he wakes from ſhort repoſe, / Breaſts the keen air, and carolls as he goes; […]
gloss: Of prices, extremely low as to be competitive.
pos: adj
tags: UK
gloss: Marvelous.
pos: adj
tags: US
dated
informal
examples: 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
Well our hosts here attacked us with a fantastic Dismodulating Anti Phase stun ray and then invited us to this amazingly keen meal by way of making it up to us.
gloss: Brave, courageous; audacious, bold.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
gloss: A prolonged wail for a deceased person.
pos: noun
examples: [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.
Synonyms: penetrating
shrewd
Derived words: keen as a bean
keen as a Jew
keen as knives
keen as mustard
keenly
keenness
keeno
keen on
keen-witted
overkeen
peachy keen
peachy keen jelly bean
treat 'em mean to keep 'em keen
unkeen
young and keen
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