different between keen vs really

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 1

From Middle English really, realy, rialliche, equivalent to real +? -ly.

Alternative forms

• real-ly
• reälly

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????l?/, /????li/, /????l?/, /????li/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???li/, /??ili/, /??i.?li/
• Hyphenation: re?al?ly
• Rhymes: -i?li

Adverb

really (comparative more really, superlative most really)

1. (literally) In a way or manner that is real, not unreal.
   • 1751, John Roche, Moravian Heresy, page 168:

     We are to believe that by an extraordinary Conception by Means of the holy Ghost he in an extraordinary MANNER, (unknown to us) really assumed Flesh, and was by her nourished in the Womb and in due Time born in a natural Manner, and that whilst on Earth he was really hungry, and dry, and eat and drank as really as other Men, without, any Deception of Sight in us or Delusion whatsoever.

   • 1878, Jonathan Baldwin Turner, Christ's Words as Related to Science,..., page 52:

     If we take the phenomenal world as it strikes our senses, in all its varied and wonderful powers and aspects; as the mere symbol of the Divine Presence and power, that is, according to Christ, ever in, through, and over all, as really as are causal light, heat and gravity, or as really as our own life and souls pervade every atom of our bodies, [...]

   • 1975, Robin H. S. Boyd, An introduction to Indian Christian theology, page 48:

     Thus Brahman must be described as ‘really real’, while a rope, or a person, or God Himself, is ‘unreally real’. And it is only the Vedantin who can distinguish the real from the unreal, for to others all seems real.

2. (modal) Actually; in fact; in reality.

3. (informal, as an intensifier) Very (modifying an adjective); very much (modifying a verb).
   • There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs; […].

Alternative forms

• (in a way or manner that is real, not unreal): real-ly

Usage notes

• Like its synonyms, really is, in practice, often used to preface an opinion, rather than a fact. (See also usage notes for actually.)

Increasingly people are recognising what's really important is having children.

Synonyms

• (actually): actually, in fact, indeed, truly; see also Thesaurus:actually
• (colloquial, as an intensifier): so

Translations

Interjection

really

1. Indicating surprise at, or requesting confirmation of, some new information; to express skepticism.

   A: He won the Nobel Prize yesterday.

   B: Really?

2. (colloquial, sarcastic, typically exaggerated question.) Indicating that what was just said was obvious and unnecessary; contrived incredulity

   A: I've just been reading Shakespeare - he's one of the best authors like, ever!

   B: Really.

3. (colloquial, chiefly US) Indicating affirmation, agreement.

   A: That girl talks about herself way too much.

   B: Really. She's a nightmare.

4. Indicating displeasure at another person's behaviour or statement.

   Well, really! How rude.

Synonyms

• (contrived incredulity, or in ironic / sarcastic sense): you don't say, no kidding, oh really, no really

Translations

References

Etymology 2

re- +? ally

Verb

really (third-person singular simple present reallies, present participle reallying, simple past and past participle reallied)

1. Alternative form of re-ally
   • 1917, German American Annals, page 69:

     She wished since long to die and to be reallied with her children in heaven.

   • 1997, Warren F. Kuehl, Lynne Dunn, Keeping the Covenant: American Internationalists and the League of Nations, 1920-1939 (Kent State University Press, ?ISBN), page 19:

     Following the election, those who had publicly opposed Harding hastened to really themselves with Republicans who had remained in the party.

Anagrams

• rallye, y'all're, yaller