different between keen vs avis

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ki?n/
• (General American) enPR: k?n, IPA^(key): /kin/
• Rhymes: -i?n
• Homophones: Keane, Keene

Etymology 1

From Middle English kene (“bold, brave, sharp”), from Old English c?ne (“keen, fierce, bold, brave, warlike, powerful; learned, clever, wise”), from Proto-Germanic *k?niz (“knowledgeable, skilful, experienced, clever, capable”), from Proto-Indo-European *?neh?- (“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”), Scots keen (“lively, brisk; avaricious”). Related to Old English cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”). More at cunning, can.

Alternative forms

• keene, kene (both obsolete)

Adjective

keen (comparative keener or more keen, superlative keenest or most keen)

1. (chiefly Commonwealth of Nations) Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.
   • 2000, Jane Green, Bookends, London: Penguin Books, ?ISBN; republished as Bookends: A Novel, trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Books, 2003, ?ISBN, page 304:

     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.

2. Fierce, intense, vehement.
3. Having a fine edge or point; sharp.
4. Acute of mind, having or expressing mental acuteness; penetrating, sharp.
5. Acrimonious, bitter, piercing.
6. Of cold, wind, etc.: cutting, penetrating, piercing, sharp.
   • 1764 December 19 (indicated as 1765), Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller, or a Prospect of Society. A Poem. Inscribed to the Rev. Henry Goldsmith, London: Printed for J[ohn] Newbery, ?OCLC; 3rd edition, London: Printed for J. Newbury,^{[sic, meaning Newbery]} in St. Paul's Church-yard, 1765, ?OCLC, page 10:

     Chearful at morn he wakes from ?hort repo?e, / Brea?ts the keen air, and carolls as he goes; […]

7. (Britain) Of prices, extremely low as to be competitive.
8. (US, informal, dated) Marvelous.
9. (obsolete) Brave, courageous; audacious, bold.

Usage notes

Keen is often used to create compounds, the meaning of most of them being fairly obvious, for example, keen-edged, keen-eyed, keen-sighted, keen-witted, etc.

Synonyms

• (showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness): ardent, eager, prompt
• (having a fine edge or point): sharp
• (acrimonious): biting, cutting, piercing
• (acute of mind): acute, penetrating, shrewd; see also Thesaurus:intelligent

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

keen (third-person singular simple present keens, present participle keening, simple past and past participle keened)

1. (transitive, rare) To make cold, to sharpen.
   • 1730, James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, A Hymn, A Poem to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton, and Britannia, a Poem, London, Printed for J. Millan, near Whitehall; and A[ndrew] Millar, in the Strand, ?OCLC; republished in The Works of James Thomson. With His Last Corrections and Improvements. In Four Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for A. Millar, in the Strand, 1766, ?OCLC, page 93, lines 1256–1259:

     This is the pure?t exerci?e of health, / The kind refre?her of the ?ummer-heats; / Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening flood, / Would I weak-?hivering linger on the brink.

Etymology 2

From Irish caoin (“to cry, weep; to keen”).

Noun

keen (plural keens)

1. A prolonged wail for a deceased person.

Verb

keen (third-person singular simple present keens, present participle keening, simple past and past participle keened)

1. (intransitive) To utter a keen.
   • 20th century, Stuart Howard-Jones (1904–1974), “Hibernia”, in Kingsley Amis, comp., The New Oxford Book of English Light Verse, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1978, ?ISBN, page 243:

     Last night he had put down too much Potheen / (A vulgar blend of Methyl and Benzene) / That, at some Wake, he might the better keen. / (Keen—meaning 'brisk'? Nay, here the Language warps: / 'Tis singing bawdy Ballads to a Corpse.)

2. (transitive) To utter with a loud wailing voice or wordless cry.
3. (transitive) To mourn.

Related terms

• keener

References

Anagrams

• Enke, kene, knee, kène, neek

Basque

Noun

keen

1. genitive plural of ke

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?e?n/

Particle

keen

1. no, not any, not a

Declension

¹Form used when the plural of the noun is the same as the singular

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ke?n/
  • Rhymes: -e?n

Particle

keen m or n

1. no, not any, not a

Declension

Somali

Verb

keen

1. bring

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English kene, from Old English c?ne.

Adjective

keen

1. sharp

References

• Jacob Poole (1867) , William Barnes, editor, A glossary, with some pieces of verse, of the old dialect of the English colony in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, J. Russell Smith, ?ISBN

English

Etymology

From Middle English avys, from Old French avis.

Noun

avis

1. (obsolete) advice; opinion; deliberation.

Anagrams

• IVAs, Siva, VISA, Vias, Visa, vias, visa

Catalan

Noun

avis

1. plural of avi

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French avis.

Pronunciation

Noun

avis c (singular definite avisen, plural indefinite aviser)

1. (journalism) newspaper

Declension

References

• “avis” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

From Old French avis, from vis, from Latin visus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.vi/

Noun

avis m (plural avis)

1. opinion

   Synonym: opinion

2. piece of advice

   Synonym: conseil

3. notice

Derived terms

Further reading

• “avis” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• vais, visa

Friulian

Noun

avis

1. plural of ave

Latin

Etymology 1

From Proto-Italic *awis, from Proto-Indo-European *h?éwis. Cognates include Ancient Greek ????? (aetós), and Sanskrit ?? (ví), and Albanian vito (“woodpidgeon”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?a.u?is/, [?äu??s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?a.vis/, [???vis]

Noun

avis f (genitive avis); third declension

1. a bird
   • ca. 833 — Nennius, Historia Brittonum, III, 54

     et v?n?runt ad eum av?s mult? col?ris innumer?bil?s

     and came to him countless birds of many colors

2. (figuratively) omen, portent

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem, ablative singular in -e or occasionally -?).

The ablative singular is often av? in Ecclesiastical Latin.

Synonyms

• (a bird): ales

Derived terms

Descendants

See also

• passer

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?a.u?i?s/, [?äu?i?s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?a.vis/, [???vis]

Noun

av?s

1. dative/ablative plural of avus

References

• avis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• avis in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• avis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• avis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.

Latvian

Noun

avis f

1. nominative plural form of avs
2. vocative plural form of avs
3. accusative plural form of avs

Lithuanian

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *áwis, from Proto-Indo-European *h?ówis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [????s]

Noun

avìs f (plural ãvys) stress pattern 4

1. sheep (female sheep and generic term)

Declension

Derived terms

See also

• ??ras
• avi?t?
• t?kis

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /?avi?s/

Noun

avis

1. locative singular of avvi

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??i?s/
• Rhymes: -i?s

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French avis.

Noun

avis f or m (definite singular avisa or avisen, indefinite plural aviser, definite plural avisene)

1. a newspaper

Derived terms

Descendants

• Kven: aviisi

Etymology 2

Verb

avis

1. imperative of avise

References

• “avis” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from French avis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??i?s/
• Rhymes: -i?s

Noun

avis f (definite singular avisa, indefinite plural aviser, definite plural avisene)

1. a newspaper

Derived terms

References

• “avis” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Etymology

From the phrase ce m'est a vis ("in my view"), where vis is from Latin visum (“vision, image”).

Noun

avis m (oblique plural avis, nominative singular avis, nominative plural avis)

1. opinion

Synonyms

• vis (more common)
• opinion

Descendants

• Middle French: advis
  • French: avis
• ? Italian: avviso
• ? Middle English: avys, avis, avice, awise, advis, advice
  • English: avis, advice

Swedish

Etymology 1

Clipping of avundsjuk (“jealous”) +? -is.

Adjective

avis (comparative mer avis, superlative mest avis)

1. (colloquial) jelly, jealous

Declension

Invariable, not used in the definite form.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Noun

avis

1. indefinite genitive singular of avi

Anagrams

• visa