There are four varieties of commercially viable coffee: Arabica, Liberica, Excelsa, and Robusta. Growers predominantly plant the Arabica species. Although less popular, Robusta tastes slightly more bitter and contains more caffeine.
KEEN
keen
(adjective) having a sharp cutting edge or point; “a keen blade”
cutting, keen, knifelike, piercing, stabbing, lancinate, lancinating
(adjective) painful as if caused by a sharp instrument; “a cutting wind”; “keen winds”; “knifelike cold”; “piercing knifelike pains”; “piercing cold”; “piercing criticism”; “a stabbing pain”; “lancinating pain”
bully, bang-up, corking, cracking, dandy, great, groovy, keen, neat, nifty, not bad, peachy, slap-up, swell, smashing, old
(adjective) very good; “he did a bully job”; “a neat sports car”; “had a great time at the party”; “you look simply smashing”; “we had a grand old time”
exquisite, keen
(adjective) intense or sharp; “suffered exquisite pain”; “felt exquisite pleasure”
acute, discriminating, incisive, keen, knifelike, penetrating, penetrative, piercing, sharp
(adjective) having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions; “an acute observer of politics and politicians”; “incisive comments”; “icy knifelike reasoning”; “as sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang”; “penetrating insight”; “frequent penetrative observations”
keen
(noun) a funeral lament sung with loud wailing
lament, keen
(verb) express grief verbally; “we lamented the death of the child”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Proper noun
Keen (plural Keens)
A surname.
Statistics
• According to the 2010 United States Census, Keen is the 1959th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 18459 individuals. Keen is most common among White (89.64%) individuals.
Anagrams
• Enke, kene, knee, kène, neek
Etymology 1
Adjective
keen (comparative keener or more keen, superlative keenest or most keen)
(chiefly, Commonwealth) Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.
Fierce, intense, vehement.
Having a fine edge or point; sharp.
Acute of mind, having or expressing mental acuteness; penetrating, sharp.
Acrimonious, bitter, piercing.
Of cold, wind, etc.: cutting, penetrating, piercing, sharp.
(Britain) Of prices, extremely low as to be competitive.
(US, informal, dated) Marvelous.
(obsolete) Brave, courageous; audacious, bold.
Usage notes
Keen is often used to create compounds, the meaning of most of them being fairly obvious, for example, keen-edged, keen-eyed, keen-sighted, keen-witted, etc.
Synonyms
• (showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness): ardent, eager, prompt
• (having a fine edge or point): sharp
• (acrimonious): biting, cutting, piercing
• (acute of mind): acute, penetrating, shrewd; see also intelligent
Verb
keen (third-person singular simple present keens, present participle keening, simple past and past participle keened)
(transitive, rare) To make cold, to sharpen.
Etymology 2
Noun
keen (plural keens)
A prolonged wail for a deceased person.
Verb
keen (third-person singular simple present keens, present participle keening, simple past and past participle keened)
(intransitive) To utter a keen.
(transitive) To utter with a loud wailing voice or wordless cry.
(transitive) To mourn.
Anagrams
• Enke, kene, knee, kène, neek
Source: Wiktionary
Keen, a. [Compar. Keener; superl. Keenest.] Etym: [OE. kene sharp, bold, AS.c bold; akin to D. koen, OHG. kuoni, G. kühn, OSw. kyn, kön, Icel. kænn, for koenn wise; perh. akin to E. ken, can to be able.
1. Sharp; having a fine edge or point; as, a keen razor, or a razor with a keen edge. A bow he bare and arwes [arrows] bright and kene. Chaucer. That my keen knife see not the wound it makes. Shak.
2. Acute of mind; sharp; penetrating; having or expressing mental acuteness; as, a man of keen understanding; a keen look; keen features. To make our wits more keen. Shak. Before the keen inquiry of her thought. Cowper.
3. Bitter; piercing; acrimonious; cutting; stinging; severe; as, keen satire or sarcasm. Good father cardinal, cry thou amen To my keen curses. Shak.
4. Piercing; penetrating; cutting; sharp; -- applied to cold, wind, etc, ; as, a keen wind; the cold is very keen. Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes. Goldsmith.
5. Eager; vehement; fierce; as, a keen appetite. "Of full kene will." Piers Plowman. So keen and greedy to confound a man. Shak.
Note: Keen is often used in the composition of words, most of which are of obvious signification; as, keen-edged, keen-eyed, keen- sighted, keen-witted, etc.
Syn.
– Prompt; eager; ardent; sharp; acute; cutting; penetrating; biting; severe; sarcastic; satirical; piercing; shrewd.
Keen, v. t.
Definition: To sharpen; to make cold. [R.] Cold winter keens the brightening flood. Thomson.
Keen, n. Etym: [Ir. caoine.]
Definition: A prolonged wail for a deceased person. Cf. Coranach. [Ireland] Froude.
Keen, v. i.
Definition: To wail as a keener does. [Ireland]
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
23 January 2025
LEFT
(adjective) being or located on or directed toward the side of the body to the west when facing north; “my left hand”; “left center field”; “the left bank of a river is bank on your left side when you are facing downstream”
Coffee Trivia
