name
Meaning 1
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
kenning
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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General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɛnɪŋ/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛnɪŋ
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CMU ARPABET: K EH1 N IH0 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
Sight, view; specifically a distant view at sea.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
The range or extent of vision, especially at sea; (by extension) a marine measure of approximately twenty miles.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
As little as one can discriminate or recognize; a small portion, a little.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- put in a kenning of salt
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A chalaza or tread of an egg (a spiral band attaching the yolk of the egg to the eggshell); a cicatricula.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, rare
Topics: biology, natural-sciences, zoology
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
A metaphorical compound or phrase, used especially in Germanic poetry (Old English or Old Norse) whereby a simple thing is described in an allusive way.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: communications, journalism, literature, media, poetry, publishing, writing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
A dry measure equivalent to half a bushel; a container with that capacity.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Northern-England
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 8
present participle and gerund of ken.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: form-of, gerund, participle, present
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 9
conventional metaphoric name for something, used especially in Old English and Old Norse poetry
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: trope, figure of speech, figure, image
History
Etymology
From Middle English kenning, kening (“instruction, teaching; experience, knowledge; sight, view”), from kennen (“to make known, point out, reveal; to direct, instruct, teach; to know, perceive”) + -ing. Kennen is derived from Old English cennan (“to make known, declare”), from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan, from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną (“to make known”), the causative form of *kunnaną (“to know, be familiar with, recognize; to be able to, know how”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh3- (“to know”). Compare Danish kending (“acquaintance”), and see further at ken. By surface analysis, ken + -ing.
From ken (“to beget, bring forth”), from Middle English kennen (“to beget, conceive (offspring); to give birth to”), from Old English cennan, gecennan (“to beget (offspring); to give birth to; to bring forth, produce”); see further at etymology 1.
A learned borrowing from Old Norse kenning, from kenna (“to know; to perceive”), from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną (“to make known”); see further at etymology 1. Compare can, keen, ken.
Origin unknown.
Across languages
Translations
11 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Danish: kenning — metaphorical phrase used in Germanic poetry
- German: Kenning — metaphorical phrase used in Germanic poetry
- Icelandic: kenning — metaphorical phrase used in Germanic poetry
- Norwegian Bokmål: kjenning — metaphorical phrase used in Germanic poetry
- Norwegian Bokmål: kenning — metaphorical phrase used in Germanic poetry
- Old Norse: kenning — metaphorical phrase used in Germanic poetry
- Polish: kenning — metaphorical phrase used in Germanic poetry
- Russian: ке́ннинг (kénning) — metaphorical phrase used in Germanic poetry
- Swedish: kenning — metaphorical phrase used in Germanic poetry
- Tagalog: saalam — metaphorical phrase used in Germanic poetry
- Catalan: quartal — dry measure
Real reading context