Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

keening

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: 1.92 in modern English

Syllables: keen-ing
IPA

12

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Sharp, shrill, especially of a sound.

noun

Intense mournful wailing after a death, often at a funeral or wake.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

An unpleasant wailing sound.

Countable; Uncountable

verb

present participle and gerund of keen

Example Sentences

"The keening sound of a dentist's drill sets my teeth on edge."
"When Leo is happy, he bursts out in riffs of scat singing, making up little melodies as he goes. When he’s basically content but feeling restless, he makes a sound like tikka, tikka, tikka. If he’s more anxious than that, he makes a sound like Jimmy Durante: “Atch-cha-cha!” A sudden burst of happiness can inspire Leo to whirl his arms around and gallop in circles shouting, “Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!” When he’s tired, he makes a soft keening noise. And when Leo is hungry, he just sobs his heart out."
"As Black Sabbath’s doomsayer-in-chief, Osbourne could summon a true sense of terror in his keening cries in a way that heightened the band’s muscular dirges."
"Keening. I remember keening that seemed to go on all through the night: shrill, sharp, shiny, needles of sound piercing cleanly and deeply to let the anguish in, not out."

Etymology

From keen + -ing, from Irish caoin.

Origin

Source language: Irish

Word Breakdown

Root: caoin

Usage

Inflected Forms

keenings (plural)

Questions

What does keening mean?: Sharp, shrill, especially of a sound.
Where does keening come from?: It is traced to Irish.

How to pronounce keening

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “keening”.
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