"K" Word Origins

kemp

Old English

From Old English cenep, meaning "moustache" or "bristling point", ultimately related to the word chin.

Kemper

German

From kemp ("to contend or struggle") plus the suffix -er, related to German Kämpfer, meaning "fighter".

kempt

Origin

Partly from both of the following: * An adjective use of kempt, the past participle of kemb (“(obsolete except UK, dialectal) to comb”), from Middle English kemben (“to comb (oneself or someone, or something); to card (wool, etc.); to make (something) elegant or smooth; (figurative) to make (something) gentle”) (compare the past participle forms kempde, kempte), from Old English cemban (“to comb”) from Proto-West Germanic *kambijan (“to comb, kemb”), from Proto-Germanic *kambijaną (“to comb, kemb”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos (“tooth; row of teeth”), from *ǵembʰ- (“to bite, chomp; to crunch”). * A back-formation from unkempt.

ken

Old English

From Middle English kennen, "to make known, understand", from Old English cennan, "to declare, give birth to, beget" — related to the modern word kin.

Kenan

Hebrew

* Borrowed from Hebrew קֵינָן (qēnå̄n). * Alternatively, possibly a variant of Keenan, from Irish Cianán, a diminutive of Cian.

Kendal

Old English

From Old English Cent + dæl = "valley of the river Kent".

Kendall

Old Norse

From the placename Kendal in Cumbria, "valley of the river Kent", and Kendale in Humberside, from Old Norse kelda (“spring”) + dalr (“valley”).

kendo

Japanese

From Japanese kendō, literally "the way of the sword", combining characters for "sword" and "way" or "path".

Kendra

Origin · 1900

Coined in the twentieth century, apparently as a blend of the names "Kenneth" and "Sandra."

keng

Origin

Clipped from the Singlish/Singapore phrase "chao keng," itself from Teochew words meaning roughly "dirty" and "to dodge" — soldiers pretending to be sick to skip duty.

Kenichi

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese けんいち (Ken'ichi).

Kenji

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese けんじ (Kenji).

Kenna

Origin

* As a Scottish surname, shortened from McKenna. * As a Manx and Irish surname, from Ó Cionaodha /Ó Cionaoith (“descendant of Cionaodh”), a name usually Anglicized as Kenneth.

Kennedy

Irish

Borrowed from Irish Ó Cinnéidigh (ceann (“head”) + éidigh (“ugly”)) or Scottish Gaelic Ceannaideach (ceann (“head”) + aideach (“ugly”). Compare Kenneth and Irish eitigh (“refuse, reject”).

kennel

Latin

From Middle English kenel, borrowed from Old French chenil, ultimately from Latin canis, meaning "dog".

kenner

Origin

Built from the old verb "ken" ("to know") plus the agent suffix "-er" — literally "one who knows."

Kenneth

Origin

An anglicized form of Gaelic names including Cináed (borne by early Scottish kings) and Cainnech, meaning roughly "handsome".

kenning

Origin

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.

Kenny

Origin

From Kenneth or Ken + -y (diminutive form).

keno

French

From French quine, referring to a winning combination of five numbers in a lottery.

Kensington

Old English

From an Old English personal name plus place-name endings meaning "estate" and "town" — literally "the estate of Cynesige's people." Places named Kensington elsewhere in the world were usually named after the London district.

Kent

Latin

From Old English Cent, going back through Latin Cantium to an old Celtic word thought to mean "corner" or "rim" — describing the county's coastal, edge-of-the-land position.

Kenta

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese けんた (Kenta).

Kenton

Origin

From either the Old English personal name Cena or cyne- (“royal”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

Kenya

Origin

From the name of Mount Kenya, about which several theories exist, including * from Kikuyu kere nyaga (“white mountain”) (because it is snow-capped) * from Kamba kii nyaa (“ostrich mountain”) * from Kikuyu kĩrĩma (“mountain”)

Kenyan

Origin

Formed by adding the suffix -an to Kenya, the East African country.

Kenzo

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese けんぞう (Kenzō).

Kerala

Origin

Borrowed from Malayalam കേരളം (kēraḷaṁ), which is of uncertain origin. One popular theory derives the name from Malayalam കേരം (kēraṁ, “coconut tree”) and Malayalam അളം (aḷaṁ, “land”), thus "land of coconuts", which is also the state's nickname. More at Kerala § Etymology on Wikipedia.

keratectasia

Origin

From kerat- + ectasia.

keratin

Greek

From Greek keras, meaning horn, plus the chemical suffix -in.

kerb

French

A British spelling variant of "curb", itself from French courber, "to bend or curve".

kerchief

Old French

From Old French couvre-chief, literally "cover-head" — the same "chief" element meaning "head" survives in words like "chief" and "kerchief" itself.

kerching

Origin

Imitative of the sound made by an old-fashioned cash register when an amount is rung up.

kerf

Origin

From Middle English kerf, kirf, kyrf, from Old English cyrf (“an act of cutting, a cutting off; a cutting instrument”), from Proto-West Germanic *kurbi, from Proto-Germanic *kurbiz (“a cut; notch; clipping”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to scratch”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Käärf, West Frisian kerf, Swedish korv. Related also to Dutch kerf, German Low German Karve, Karv, German Kerbe.

kerfuffle

Origin

Probably from Scots curfuffle, equivalent to ker- + fuffle, or related to Irish cíor thuathail (“confusion, bewilderment”). Similar to modern Welsh cythrwfl (“uproar, trouble, agitation”)

Kermit

English

Variant of English and Manx Kermode, cognate with Irish Mac Diarmata and Scots Gaelic McDiarmid (“son of Dermot”). Popularized in the US by the naming of Kermit Roosevelt (after a Manx ancestor). The computing sense is named after the Sesame Street character, but later provided with a backronym ("KL10 Error-Free Reciprocal Microprocessor Interchange over TTY").

kern

Middle English

From Middle English corn/curn ("grain, kernel"), related to the word "kernel" — the typographic sense developed later from the idea of a small overhanging piece.

kernel

Old English

From Old English cyrnel, a diminutive of "corn" — so a kernel is literally a "little grain".

kerosene

Ancient Greek · 1854

Coined from the Ancient Greek kērós ("wax") plus the chemical suffix "-ene"; it was trademarked as a name in 1854 before becoming a generic term.

Kerouac

Origin

Ultimately of Breton origin.

Kerr

Middle English

* As an English and Scottish topographic surname for someone who lived by a patch of wet ground overgrown with brushwood, from Middle English kerr (“brushwood”), possibly related to Irish Gaelic ceàrr (“left-handed”) and/or Old Norse kjarr. * As an Irish surname, variant of Carr. * As a German surname, Americanized from Kehr. * As a Scottish Gaelic surname, from mac gille chéir (“son of the dusky laid”), from ciar (“black”).

Kerrigan

Irish

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Ciaragáin (“grandson/descendant of Ciaragán”), a byname from a double diminutive of ciar (“black”).

Kerry

Origin

Named after County Kerry in Ireland, where the breed originated.

kersey

Origin

Named after Kersey, a village in Suffolk, England, where this style of woollen cloth was originally woven.

Kershaw

Old English

From Old English; equivalent to kirk (“church”) + shaw (“grove”).

kes

Origin

A shortened form of "kestrel".

Kessler

German

Borrowed from German Kessler, Keßler (“kettler, kettle-smith, tinker”). See also Kessel (“kettle”).

ket

Origin

From bra-ket notation invented by Paul Dirac, from bracket.