adj
Meaning 1
Shaggy; rough.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
kemp
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/kɛmp/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛmp
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CMU ARPABET: K EH1 M P Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
name
Meaning 2
A surname
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 3
A placename
An unincorporated community in Douglas County, Illinois, United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 4
A placename
An unincorporated community in Allen County, Ohio, United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 5
A placename
A small town in Bryan County, Oklahoma, United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 6
A placename
A small city in Kaufman County, Texas, United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
A coarse or bristly hair, whisker; (in the plural) knotty hairs that will not felt.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, dialectal, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
Rough hair, wool, or fur.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, dialectal, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 9
A contest in work, etc.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Scotland, archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 10
A champion; a knight.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 11
To strive or contend in any way; strive for victory.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Middle English kempe, campe (“shaggy, rough”).
* As an English, Scottish, Dutch, and north/Low German surname, from the noun kemp (“champion, warrior”), similar to Kampf. * As a Dutch and West Flemish occupational surname, from Middle Dutch canep (“hemp”) (see modern hennep). * Also as a Dutch surname Van der Kemp, Brabantine variant of Van der Kamp, from van (“of”) + der (“the”) + kamp (“camp”), related to the first sense above. The place names are from the surname.
From Middle English kempe (“coarse hairs”), from Old English cenep (“moustache; bit (of a bridle, bristling with points)”), from Proto-West Germanic *kanip, from Proto-Germanic *kanipaz (“beard, moustache, whiskers”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénus (“jaw”). Related to chin.
From Middle English kempen, from Old English *cempan (“to do battle, fight”), from Proto-West Germanic *kampijan (“to campaign, do battle”), ultimately from Latin campus.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kh2em-der. Proto-Indo-European *kh2ém-po-s Proto-Italic *kampos Latin campusbor. Proto-West Germanic *kamp Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-West Germanic *-jan Proto-West Germanic *kampijan Proto-Germanic *-jô Proto-West Germanic *-jō Proto-West Germanic *kampijō Old English cempa Middle English kempe English kemp From Middle English kempe, from Old English cempa (“warrior, fighter, champion”), from Proto-West Germanic *kampijō (“fighter”), ultimately from Latin campus. Doublet of champion. Cognate with literary German Kämpe (“champion, fighter”), German Kempf.