keen

英[ki?n] 美[kin]

第三人稱單數:?keens;過去式:?keened;過去分詞:?keened;現在分詞:?keening;比較級:?keener;最高級:?keenest;副詞:?keenly;名詞:?keenness;

1. can => keen.
2. can => canny.
3. cunning => can, keen.
4. keen <====> knee: 雙膝跪地痛哭、哀悼。

keen 渴望，熱切

來自古英語cene,勇敢的，來自Proto-Germnaic*kan,有能力的，來自PIE*gno,知道，了解，詞源同can,know.引申詞義渴望的，熱切的。

keen: keen: [OE] The ancestral meaning of keen is ‘brave’. That is what its German and Dutch relatives, kühn and koen, mean, and that is what keen itself meant in the Old English period. But this sense had died out by the 17th century, having been replaced by the meanings familiar today, such as ‘eager’ and ‘sharp’.
keen (adj.): c. 1200, from Old English cene "bold brave," later "clever, wise," from Proto-Germanic *kan- "be able to" (see can). Original prehistoric senses seem to have been both "brave" and "skilled;" cognate with Old Norse k?nn "skillful, wise," Middle Dutch coene "bold," Dutch koen, Old High German kuon "pugnacious, strong," German kühn "bold, daring." Sense of "eager" is from mid-14c. The meaning "sharp" is peculiar to English: of blades and edges early 13c., of sounds c. 1400, of eyesight c. 1720. A popular word of approval in teenager and student slang from c. 1900.
keen (v.): "lament," 1811, from Irish caoinim "I weep, wail, lament," from Old Irish coinim "I wail." Related: Keened; keening. As a noun from 1830.

1. He's been a keen supporter of the Labour Party all his life.: 他一生都是工黨的熱情擁護者。

3. He had retained a keen interest in the progress of the work.: 他對那項工作的進展一直很關心。

4. The receivers are keen to sell the stores as one lot.: 破產事務官想要將這些店鋪打包整體出售。

5. Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.: 追查倫敦爆炸案兇犯的偵探們急于對他進行訊問。