Etymology dictionary

K

K — keen (adj.)

K

eleventh Roman letter, from Greek kappa, from Phoenician kaph or a similar Semitic source, said to mean literally "hollow of the hand" and to be so called for its shape.

Little used in classical Latin, which at an early age conformed most of its words (the exceptions had ritual importance) to a spelling using -c- (a character derived from Greek gamma). In Late Latin, pronunciation of -c- shifted (in the direction of "s"). Greek names brought into Latin also were regularized with a -c- spelling, and then underwent the Late Latin sound-shift; hence the modern pronunciation of Cyrus, Circe. To keep their pronunciation clear, the many Greek words (often Church words) that entered Latin after this shift tended to take Latin -k- for Greek kappa.

K- thus became a supplementary letter to -c- in Medieval Latin, used with Greek and foreign words. But most of the languages descended from Latin had little need of it, having evolved other solutions to the sound shifts.

K- also was scarce in Old English. After the Norman conquest, new scribal habits restricted -c- and expanded the use of -k-, which began to be common in English spelling from 13c. This probably was done because the sound value of -c- was evolving in French and the other letter was available to clearly mark the "k" sound for scribes working in English. For more, see C.

In words transliterated from Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Japanese, Hawaiian, etc., it represents several different sounds lumped. In modern use some of them are now with kh-; in older borrowings they often followed traditional English spelling and were written with a C- (Corea, Caaba, etc.).

As a symbol for potassium, it represents Latin kalium "potash." In CMYK as a color system for commercial printing it means "black" but seems to stand for key in a specialized printing sense. Slang meaning "one thousand dollars" is 1970s, from kilo-. K as a measure of capacity (especially in computer memory) meaning "one thousand" also is an abbreviation of kilo-.

As an indication of "strikeout" in baseball score-keeping it dates from 1874 and is said to represent the last letter of struck. The invention of the scorecard symbols is attributed to English-born U.S. newspaperman Henry Chadwick (1824-1908) principally of the old New York "Clipper," who had been writing baseball since 1858, and who explained it thus:

ka-

variant of ker-.

*ka-

*kā-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to like, desire."

It forms all or part of: caress; charity; cherish; Kama Sutra; whore; whoredom.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit Kama, name of the Hindu god of love, kamah "love, desire;" Old Persian kama "desire;" Latin carus "dear;" Old Irish cara "friend;" Old English hore "prostitute, harlot."

Kaaba (n.)

1734, Caaba, cube-shaped building in the Great Mosque of Mecca, containing the Black Stone, the most sacred site of Islam, from Arabic ka'bah "square house," from ka'b "cube."

kabbalah (n.)

see cabbala.

kabuki (n.)

1896, from Japanese, popular theater (as opposed to shadow puppet-plays or lyrical Noh dramas).

Alternative etymology [Barnhart, OED] is that it means literally "art of song and dance," from ka "song" + bu "dance" + ki "art, skill."

Kabul

capital of Afghanistan, named for its river, which carries a name of unknown origin.

Kabyle

"Berber of Algeria and Tunisia," 1738, also their language (1882), from French, from Arabic qaba'il, plural of qabilah "tribe, horde."

*kad-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to fall."

It forms all or part of: accident; cadaver; cadence; caducous; cascade; case (n.1); casual; casualty; casuist; casus belli; chance; cheat; chute (n.1); coincide; decadence; decay; deciduous; escheat; incident; occasion; occident; recidivist.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit sad- "to fall down;" Latin casus "a chance, occasion, opportunity; accident, mishap," literally "a falling," cadere "to fall, sink, settle down, decline, perish;" Armenian chacnum "to fall, become low;" perhaps also Middle Irish casar "hail, lightning."

kaddish (n.)

doxology of the Jewish ritual, 1610s, from Aramaic (Semitic) qaddish "holy, holy one," from stem of q'dhash "was holy," ithqaddash "was sanctified," related to Hebrew qadhash "was holy," qadhosh "holy." According to Klein, the name probably is from the second word of the text veyithqaddash "and sanctified be."

*kae-id-

*kaə-id-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to strike."

It forms all or part of: abscise; avicide; biocide; caesarian; caesura; cement; chisel; -cide; circumcise; circumcision; concise; decide; decision; deicide; excise (v.); excision; felicide; feticide; filicide; floricide; fratricide; fungicide; gallinicide; genocide; germicide; herbicide; homicide; incise; incision; incisor; infanticide; insecticide; legicide; liberticide; libricide; matricide; parricide; patricide; pesticide; precise; precision; prolicide; scissors; senicide; spermicide; suicide; uxoricide; verbicide.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit skhidati "beats, tears;" Latin caedere "to strike down, fell, slay;" Lithuanian kaišti "shave;" Armenian xait'em "to stab;" Albanian qeth "to shave;" Middle Dutch heien "to drive piles," Old High German heia "wooden hammer," German heien "beat."

kaffeeklatsch (n.)

"gossip over cups of coffee," 1877, from German Kaffeeklatsch, from kaffee "coffee" (see coffee) + klatsch "gossip" (see klatsch).

Kaffir (n.)

1790, "infidel," earlier and also caffre (1670s), from Arabic kafir "unbeliever, infidel, impious wretch," with a literal sense of "one who does not admit (the blessings of God)," from kafara "to cover up, conceal, deny, blot out."

Technically, "a non-Muslim," but in Ottoman times it came to be used there almost exclusively as the disparaging word for "Christian." It also was used by Muslims in East Africa of the pagan black Africans; English missionaries then picked it up as an equivalent of "heathen" to refer to Bantus in South Africa (1731), from which use in English it came generally to mean "South African black" regardless of ethnicity, and to be a term of abuse at least since 1934.

kaffiyeh (n.)

also keffieh, keffiyeh, small shawl or scarf worn with a cord around the head by some Arab men, 1817.

Kafkaesque (adj.)

1947, resembling such situations as are explored in the fiction of Franz Kafka (1883-1924), German-speaking Jewish novelist born in Prague, Austria-Hungary. The surname is Czech German, literally "jackdaw," and is imitative.

kafuffle (n.)

variant of kerfuffle.

Kahlua

Mexican coffee-flavored liqueur, produced from 1936, the name said to be from the native Acolhua people, allies of the Aztecs.

kahuna (n.)

1886, in a report in English by the Hawaiian government, which defines the word as "doctor and sorcerer," from Hawaiian, where it was applied as well to priests and navigators. In surfer slang, "a god of surfing," it is attested from 1962 (but big kahuna in same sense is said to date from 1950s).

Kay

fem. proper name, often a shortening of Katherine. As a given name for girls, from 1890s in the U.S.; among the top 100 names for girls born there 1936-1945.

kaiser (n.)

1858 in reference to the emperors of Austria and (after 1870) Germany, from German Kaiser, Bavarian and Austrian spelling variant of of Middle High German keisar, from Old High German keisar "emperor," an early borrowing of Latin cognomen Caesar.

The Germanic peoples seem to have called all Roman emperors "caesar" (compare Old English casere, Old Norse keisari "an emperor"). The word also entered Germanic via Gothic, perhaps from Greek. According to Kluge, one of the earliest Latin loan word in Germanic. The Old English word fell from use after Middle English.

kakistocracy (n.)

"government by the worst element of a society," 1829, coined (by Thomas Love Peacock) on analogy of its opposite, aristocracy, from Greek kakistos "worst," superlative of kakos "bad" (which perhaps is related to PIE root *kakka- "to defecate") + -cracy. Perhaps the closest word in ancient Greek was kakonomia "a bad system of laws and government," hence kakonomos "with bad laws, ill-governed."

*kakka-

also kaka-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to defecate." According to Watkins, "imitative of glottal closure during defecation."

It forms all or part of: caca; cachexia; caco-; cacoethes; cacophony; cucking stool; kakistocracy; poppycock.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek kakke "human excrement," Latin cacare, Irish caccaim, Serbo-Croatian kakati, Armenian k'akor; Old English cac-hus "latrine."

Etymologists dispute whether the modern Germanic words (Dutch kakken, Danish kakke, German kacken), are native cognates or student slang borrowed from Latin cacare. Caca appears in Modern English in slang c. 1870, and could have been taken from any or several of the languages that used it.

Kalashnikov (n.)

type of rifle or submachine gun, 1968, from Russian Kalashnikov, name of a weapon developed in the Soviet Union c. 1946 and named for Mikhail Kalashnikov, gun designer and part of the team that built it. In AK-47, the AK stands for Avtomat Kalashnikov.

kale (n.)

also kail, "cabbage, any kind of greens with curled or wrinkled leaves," c. 1300, a variant of cawul (see cole (n.1)), surviving in Scottish and northern English. Slang meaning "money" is from 1902, from the notion of leaves of green.

kaleidoscopic (adj.)

"varying or variegated like the forms and colors in a kaleidoscope," 1820, from kaleidoscope + -ic. Figurative use by 1855.

kaleidoscope (n.)

"optical instrument creating and exhibiting, by reflection, a variety of beautiful colors and symmetrical forms," 1817, literally "observer of beautiful forms," coined by its inventor, Scottish scientist David Brewster (1781-1868), from Greek kalos "beautiful, beauteous" (see Callisto) + eidos "shape" (see -oid) + -scope, on model of telescope, etc. They sold by the thousands in the few years after their invention, but Brewster failed to secure a patent.

Figurative meaning "constantly changing pattern" is first attested 1819 in Lord Byron, whose publisher had sent him one of the toys. As a verb, from 1891. A kaleidophone (1827) was invented by English inventor Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875) to make sound waves visible.

Kalevala

Finnish epic compilation, first published 1835, from Finnish (Finno-Ugric), literally "place or home of a hero," from kaleva "hero" + -la "place."

Kali

a name of Devi, the Hindu mother-goddess, in her black-skinned death-aspect, 1798, from Sanskrit kali, literally "the black one," fem. of kalah "blue-black, black," a word from a Dravidian language. Also taken as the fem. of kala "time" (as destroyer).

kalon

a Greek word sometimes used in English, especially in to kalon "the (morally) beautiful, the ideal good," neuter of Greek kalos "beautiful, noble, good" (see Callisto).

Kama Sutra (n.)

also Kamasutra, 1871, from Sanskrit Kama Sutra, name of the ancient treatise on love and sexual performance, from kama "love, desire" (from PIE *ka-mo-, suffixed form of root *ka- "to like, desire") + sutra "series of aphorisms" (see sutra).

Kamchatka

Siberian peninsula, 1730, named for a native people, the Kamchadal, from Koryak (Chukotko-Kamchatkan) konchachal, which is said to mean "men of the far end" [Room]. Related: Kamchatkan.

kami (n.)

a Japanese word meaning "superior, lord," a title of the gods of Japan, also given to governors. The word was chosen by Japanese converts and Protestant missionaries to refer to the Christian God. Attested in English from 1610s.

kamikaze (n.)

"suicide flier," 1945, Japanese, literally "divine wind," from kami "god, providence" (see kami) + kaze "wind." Said to have been originally the name given in folklore to a typhoon which saved Japan from Mongol invasion by wrecking Kublai Khan's fleet (August 1281). The World War II attacks began in October 1944 off the Philippines. As an adjective from 1946.

Kampuchea

name taken by Cambodia after the communist takeover in 1975, representing a local pronunciation of the name that came into English as Cambodia. Related: Kampuchean.

*kan-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to sing."

It forms all or part of: accent; cant (n.1); cantabile; cantata; cantatrice; canticle; canto; cantor; canzone; Carmen; chanson; chant; chanter; chanteuse; chanty; chanticleer; charm; concent; descant; enchant; enchantment; hen; incantation; incentive; oscine; precentor; recant.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek eikanos "cock," literally "bird who sings (for sunrise);" Latin cantare, canere "to sing;" Old Irish caniaid "sings," Welsh canu "sing;" Old English hana "cock."

Kanaka (n.)

U.S. nautical word for "a Hawaiian," 1840, from Hawaiian kanaka "man" (cognate with Samoan tangata). In Australia, "native of the South Sea islands" working on sugar plantations, etc.

Kanarese (n.)

Dravidian language of southwestern India, formerly Canarese, now known as Kannada.

*kand-

also *kend-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to shine."

It forms all or part of: candela; candelabrum; candescent; candid; candidate; candle; candor; chandelier; chandler; frankincense; incandescence; incandescent; incendiary; incense (n.) "substance producing a sweet smell when burned;" incense (v.1) "to provoke, anger."

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit cand- "to give light, shine," candra- "shining, glowing, moon;" Greek kandaros "coal;" Latin candere "to shine;" Welsh cann "white," Middle Irish condud "fuel."

kangaroo (n.)

"large marsupial mammal of Australia," 1770, used by Capt. Cook and botanist Joseph Banks (who first reported the species to Europeans), supposedly representing a native word from northeast Queensland, Australia, but often said to be unknown now in any native language. However, according to Australian linguist R.M.W. Dixon ("The Languages of Australia," Cambridge, 1980), the word probably is from Guugu Yimidhirr (Endeavour River-area Aboriginal language) /gaNurru/ "large black kangaroo."

Kangaroo court is American English, first recorded 1850 in a Southwestern context (also mustang court), from notion of proceeding by leaps.

kanji (n.)

"Chinese ideographs that make up the bulk of Japanese writing," 1907, from Japanese kan "Chinese" (literally Han) + ji "letter, character."

Kansas

Siouan people of the American Midwest, 1806, from French, a variant of Kansa (itself in English from 1722), from /kká:ze, a Siouan term referring to members of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan family. Compare Arkansas. The Siouan word is a plural. Established as a U.S. territory in 1854 and named for the river, which is named for the people; admitted as a state 1861. Related: Kansan; Kansian, used by Whitman and a few others, seems not to have thrived.

Kantian (adj.)

also Kantean, 1796, of or pertaining to German thinker Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) or his philosophy.

kaolin (n.)

"china clay, fine clay from the decomposition of feldspar," 1727, from French kaolin (1712), from Chinese Kaoling, old-style transliteration (pinyin Gaoling) of the name of a mountain in Jiangxi province, China (near which it was dug up and made into porcelain of high quality and international reputation), from Chinese gao "high" + ling "mountain, hill, ridge." OED points out that this is a French pronunciation of a Chinese word that in the English of the day would be better represented by *kauwling. Related: kaolinic; kaolinite.

*kap-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to grasp."

It forms all or part of: accept; anticipate; anticipation; behave; behoof; behoove; cable; cacciatore; caitiff; capable; capacious; capacity; capias; capiche; capstan; caption; captious; captivate; captive; captor; capture; case (n.2) "receptacle;" catch; catchpoll; cater; chase (n.1) "a hunt;" chase (v.) "to run after, hunt;" chasse; chasseur; conceive; cop (v.) "to seize, catch;" copper (n.2) "policeman;" deceive; emancipate; except; forceps; gaffe; haft; have; hawk (n.); heave; heavy; heft; incapacity; inception; incipient; intercept; intussusception; manciple; municipal; occupy; participation; perceive; precept; prince; purchase; receive; recipe; recover; recuperate; sashay; susceptible.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit kapati "two handfuls;" Greek kaptein "to swallow, gulp down," kope "oar, handle;" Latin capax "able to hold much, broad," capistrum "halter," capere "to grasp, lay hold; be large enough for; comprehend;" Lettish kampiu "seize;" Old Irish cacht "servant-girl," literally "captive;" Welsh caeth "captive, slave;" Gothic haban "have, hold;" Old English hæft "handle," habban "to have, hold."

kapellmeister (n.)

"conductor," 1838, German, literally "chapel master," from Kapelle "chapel" (also the name given to a band or orchestra), from Old High German kapella (9c.); see chapel (n.) + Meister "master" (see master (n.)).

kapok (n.)

also in early use capoc, "type of silky wool used for stuffing, etc.," 1735 in reference to the large tropical tree which produces it; 1750 of the fiber, from Malay (Austronesian) kapoq, name of the tree.

kappa

tenth letter of the Greek alphabet, c. 1400, from an Aramaized form of Hebrew qoph; see K.

kaput (adj.)

"finished, worn out, dead," 1895 as a German word in English, from German kaputt "destroyed, ruined, lost" (1640s), which in this sense probably is a misunderstanding of an expression from card-playing, capot machen, a partial translation into German of French faire capot, a phrase which meant "to win all the tricks (from the other player) in piquet," an obsolete card game.

The French phrase means "to make a bonnet," and perhaps the notion is throwing a hood over the other player, but faire capot also meant in French marine jargon "to overset in a squall when under sail." The German word was popularized in English during World War I.

French capot is literally "cover, bonnet," also the name of a type of greatcloak worn by sailors and soldiers (see capote).

The card-playing sense is attested in German only from 1690s, but capot in the (presumably) transferred sense of "destroyed, ruined, lost" is attested from 1640s [see William Jervis Jones, "A Lexicon of French Borrowings in the German Vocabulary (1575-1648)," Berlin, de Gruyter, 1976]. In Hoyle and other English gaming sources, faire capot is "to win all the tricks," and a different phrase, être capot, literally "to be a bonnet," is sometimes cited as the term for losing them. The sense reversal in German might have come about because if someone wins all the tricks the other player has to lose them, and the same word capot, when it entered English from French in the mid-17c. meant "to score a capot against; to win all the tricks from," with figurative extensions, e.g.:

*kaput-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "head."

It forms all or part of: achieve; behead; biceps; cabbage; cabochon; caddie; cadet; cap; cap-a-pie; cape (n.1) "garment;" cape (n.2) "promontory;" capital (adj.); capital (n.3) "head of a column or pillar;" capitate; capitation; capitulate; capitulation; capitulum; capo (n.1) "leader of a Mafia family;" capo (n.2) "pitch-altering device for a stringed instrument;" caprice; capsize; captain; cattle; caudillo; chapter; chef; chief; chieftain; corporal (n.); decapitate; decapitation; forehead; head; hetman; kaput; kerchief; mischief; occipital; precipice; precipitate; precipitation; recapitulate; recapitulation; sinciput; triceps.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit kaput-; Latin caput "head;" Old English heafod, German Haupt, Gothic haubiþ "head."

*kar-

also *ker-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "hard."

It forms all or part of: -ard; Bernard; cancer; canker; carcinogen; carcinoma; careen; chancre; -cracy; Gerard; hard; hardly; hardy; Leonard; Richard; standard.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit karkatah "crab," karkarah "hard;" Greek kratos "strength," kratys "strong;" "hard;" Old English heard, German hart "solid and firm, not soft."

karabiner (n.)

small oval coupling device with a hinged gate, 1932, shortened from German karabiner-haken "spring hook, swivel," from karabiner "carbine, rifle" (17c.), from French carabine (see carbine).

karaoke (n.)

1979, Japanese, from kara "empty" + oke "orchestra," the latter a shortened form of okesutora, which is a Japanning of English orchestra.

karat (n.)

1854, spelling variant of carat (q.v.). In U.S., karat is used for "proportion of fine gold in an alloy" and carat for "measure of weight of a precious stone."

karate (n.)

system of unarmed combat using hands and feet, 1947, Japanese, literally "empty hand, bare hand," from kara "empty" + te "hand." As a verb from 1963. A devotee is a karateka. Karate-chop (n.) is attested from 1964.

Karelia

region in Finland and Russia, so-called from the people's name, which is perhaps from Finnish karja "herd" in reference to herdsmen.

Karen (1)

heterogeneous people of eastern Burma, 1759 (as Carian), from Burmese ka-reng "wild, dirty, low-caste man" [OED].

Karen (2)

fem. proper name, Danish shortened form of Katherine. Rare before 1928; a top-10 name for girls born in the U.S. 1951-1968.

The modern pejorative use in reference to a person regarded as ignorant, meddlesome, entitled, racist, or generally negative, is attested by 2005, originally often with reference to meanness or stupidity, and exploded in popularity 2018, with more emphasis on the racism and privilege. Its use as rhetorical shorthand probably was encouraged, if not inspired by, the 2004 movie "Mean Girls" (screenplay by Tina Fey) and by U.S. comedian Dane Cook's 2005 stand-up act, both of which produced memes and Twitter references. Claims that it originated in African-American circles are unsupported.

Beth Harpaz's 2001 book "Girls in the Van," about Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate campaign, reports that Clinton's assistants Karen Dunn and Karen Finney were known as The Karens. Finney went on to a career as a commentator, and some of the earliest abstract uses of Karen in the late 2000s are as the personification of a liberal do-gooder.

Karl

see Carl.

karma (n.)

1800, in an Indian context, "the sum of a person's actions in one life," which determines his form in the next; from Sanskrit karma "action, work, deed; fate," related to Sanskrit krnoti, Avestan kerenaoiti "makes," Old Persian kunautiy "he makes;" from PIE root *kwer- "to make, form" (see terato-). "Latterly adopted by Western popular 'meditative' groups" [OED, 1989]. It is related to the second element in Sanskrit.

karmic (adj.)

"of or pertaining to the doctrine of karma," 1883, from karma + -ic.

karoo (n.)

"barren table-land in South Africa," 1789, said to be from a Khoisan (Hottentot) word meaning "hard," or perhaps "desert."

karst (n.)

name of a high, barren limestone region around Trieste; used by geologists from 1894 to refer to similar landforms. The word is the German form of Slovenian Kras, which might be related to words in Slavic meaning "red."

kart (n.)

1957, American English, short for go-kart (see go-cart).

karyo-

before vowels kary-, word-forming element used since c. 1874 in biological terms referring to cell nuclei, from Greek karyon "nut, kernel," possibly from PIE root *kar- "hard," but Beekes leans toward the notion that it is a Pre-Greek word.

karyotype (n.)

chromosomal constitution of a cell, 1929, ultimately from Russian kariotip (1922); see karyo- + type. Related: Karyotypic.

kasbah (n.)

alternative spelling of casbah.

Kashmir

formerly also Cashmere, 1747, from Sanskrit Kashypamara "land of Kashyap," said to be the name of a renowned sage. As a type of carpet, from 1900. Related: Kashmiri (1832); Kashmirian.

katabatic (adj.)

of winds, "blowing down a slope," 1904, from Greek katabatos "descending," from katabainein "to go down," a compound of kata "down" (see cata-) + bainein "to go, walk, step," from PIE root *gwa- "to go, come."

katakana (n.)

one of the two traditional styles of writing Japanese (along with hiragana), 1727, from Japanese katakana, from kata "side" + kana "borrowed letter(s)," short for kari-na- "borrowed names." Used now largely for writing proper names and foreign words.

katana (n.)

type of long, single-edged sword, 1610s, from Japanese.

katchup

spelling variant of ketchup.

Kate

fem. proper name, pet form of Katherine. In World War II it was the Allies' nickname for the standard type of torpedo bomber used by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Kate Greenaway in reference to a style of children's clothing is from 1902, from the work of the English illustrator of children's books who was very popular c. 1880.

kathenotheism (n.)

"a form of polytheism characteristic of the Vedic religion, in which one god at a time is considered supreme," 1865, coined in German by Max Müller from Greek kath' hena "one by one" (from kata- "according to" + en- "one") + -theism. Müller also coined the nearly synonymous henotheism (1860, from Greek henos "one") for "faith in a single god" as distinguished from exclusive belief in only one god, in writings on early Hebrew religion. He also has adevism (from Sanskrit deva "god") for "disbelief in the old gods and legends").

Katherine

fem. proper name, also Katharine; see Catherine.

Kathmandu

Nepalese capital, from Nepalese Kathmandu, from kath "wooden" + mandu "temple."

Katie

fem. proper name, diminutive form of Kate. Noun Katie-bar-the-door "a brouhaha, a turbulent and combative situation" is by 1888; the notion is "get ready for trouble."

katydid (n.)

popular name for a large, green locust-like insect, 1784, American English, imitative of the stridulous sound the male makes when it vibrates its wings. In the eastern U.S., a familiar sound of a summer night; the sound itself was more accurately transcribed in 1751 as catedidist.

katzenjammer (n.)

1821, in a German context, "a hangover," American English colloquial, from German Katzenjammer "hangover" (18c.), also figuratively, in colloquial use, "remorse of conscience, vow to mend one's ways," literally "wailing of cats, misery of cats," from katzen, combining form of katze "cat" (see cat (n.)) + jammer "distress, wailing" (see yammer (v.)).

Katzenjammer Kids "spectacularly naughty children" is from the title of the popular newspaper comic strip (based on the German Max und Moritz stories) first drawn by German-born U.S. comic strip artist Rudolph Dirks (1877-1968) in 1897 for the "New York Journal." Hence, katzenjammer in the sense "any unpleasant reaction" (1897). The strip was temporarily de-Germanized during World War I:

kayak (n.)

type of Eskimo light boat, originally made from seal-skins stretched over a wooden frame, 1757, kajak, from Danish kajak, from Greenland Eskimo qayaq, literally "small boat of skins." The verb is attested from 1875, from the noun. Related: Kayaking; kayaker (1856).

kayles (n.)

old game similar to bowls except a club or stick was thrown instead of a ball, from kail, from Middle English kayle "a pin, ninepin, skittlepin;" cognate with German Kegel, Danish kegle. Also the name of a game with nine holes drilled in the ground (an iron ball is rolled among them).

Kayla

fem. proper name, usually an extended form of Kay. Rare before 1962; a top-20 name for girls born in the U.S. 1988-2004.

kayo

spelled-out form of K.O. (for knockout in the pugilism sense), from 1923. Also used in 1920s as a slang reversal of OK.

Kazakhstan

from the indigenous Kazakh people (whose name is from Turkic kazak "nomad;" see Cossack) + Iranian -stan "country, land" (see -stan).

Kazimir

masc. proper name; see Casimir.

kazoo (n.)

1884, American English, a commercial name, probably an alteration of earlier bazoo "trumpet" (1877), which probably is ultimately imitative (compare bazooka). In England, formerly called a Timmy Talker, in France, a mirliton.

Mostly "etc."

*kes-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to cut."

It forms all or part of: caret; cashier (v.) "dismiss;" cassation; caste; castellan; castellated; Castile; castle; castigate; castrate; castration; chaste; chastity; chateau; chatelaine; Chester; forecastle; incest; quash (v.) "make void, annul."

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit sastra- "knife, dagger;" Greek keazein "to split;" Latin carere "to be cut off from," cassus "empty, void;" Old Church Slavonic kosa "scythe."

Keatsian (adj.)

1836, "of or in the manner of English poet John Keats" (1795-1821).

kebab (n.)

"pieces of meat roasted on a skewer," 1783 (compare shish kebab).

keck (v.)

"to heave as if to vomit," 1530s, imitative of the sound involved. Related: Kecked; kecking; keckish.

*ked-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to go, yield."

It forms all or part of: abscess; accede; access; ancestor; antecede; antecedent; cease; cede; cession; concede; decease; exceed; excess; incessant; intercede; necessary; precede; predecessor; proceed; recede; recess; recession; secede; secession; succeed; success.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit sedhati "to drive, chase away;" Avestan apa-had- "turn aside, step aside;" Latin cedere "to yield, give place; to give up some right or property," originally "to go from, proceed, leave;" Old Church Slavonic chodu "a walking, going," choditi "to go."

Ked

proprietary name of a brand of canvas sneakers, 1917, registered by United States Rubber Co., N.Y. Based on Latin ped-, stem of pes "foot" (see foot (n.))

kedge (v.)

"to move (a ship) by means of a light cable attached to an anchor," 1620s, probably from a Scandinavian source or perhaps from cadge (v.) "to tie, fasten" (itself from Scandinavian); compare colloquial ketch from catch. Hence also kedge-anchor (1704) and its shortened form kedge (1769).

keeled (adj.)

"furnished with a keel, having a keel (of a specified type) or something resembling one," 1744, adjective from keel (n.).

keel (v.1)

of a ship, "turn keel-up" (intransitive), 1828, from keel (n.). To keel over is to "capsize" (1829), hence generally "tumble, fall" (1833), from the nautical image of a ship turning keel-up, an extended sense first in sporting, in reference to shot game. Related: Keeled; keeling.

keel (n.)

"lowest and principal timber of a ship or boat," mid-14c., probably from a Scandinavian source (compare Old Norse kjölr "keel," Danish kjøl, Swedish köl), which according to Watkins is from Proto-Germanic *gwele- (3) "to swallow" (see gullet).

OED and Middle English Compendium say this word is separate from the keel that means "a strong, clumsy boat, barge" (c. 1200), which might be instead from Middle Dutch kiel "ship" (cognate with Old English ceol "ship's prow," Old High German kiel, German Kiel "ship"). But the two words have influenced each other or partly merged, and Barnhart calls them cognates. Keel still is used locally for "flat-bottomed boat" in the U.S. and England, especially on the Tyne.

In historical writing about the Anglo-Saxons, it is attested from 17c. as the word for an early form of long-boat supposedly used by them in the crossing, based on ceolum in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Medieval Latin cyulis (Gildas). Old English also used simply scipes botm or bytme. On an even keel (1560s) is "in a level, horizontal position," hence figurative extension with reference to stability.

keel (v.2)

"to keep cool, make cool," Middle English kelen, from Old English celan "to cool," from Proto-Germanic *koljan "to cool," from the same source as cool (adj.). The form kele (from Old English colian) was used by Shakespeare, but later it was assimilated with the adjective form into the modern verb cool. Cognate with Dutch koelen, Old High German chuolen, German kühlen.

keelboat (n.)

1690s, from keel (n.) + boat (n.).

keelhaul (v.)

1660s (the experience itself is described from 1620s), from Dutch kielhalen, literally "to haul under the keel," an old punishment for certain offenses; from kiel- (see keel (n.)) + halen "to haul, pull" (see haul (v.)). Hence, figuratively, "to reprimand severely." Related: Keelhauled. German kielholen, Danish kjølhale, Swedish kölhala also are from Dutch. Related: Keelhauling.

keelson (n.)

also kelson, "line of jointed timbers in a ship laid on the middle of the floor-timbers over the keel, binding the floor-timbers to the keel," 1620s, altered (by influence of keel (n.)) from Middle English kelsyng (late 13c.), which probably is of Scandinavian origin (compare Swedish kölsvin, Danish and Norwegian kjølsvin), from a compound of words such as Old Norse kjölr (see keel (n.)) + swin "swine," which was used of timber (see swine), or perhaps the second element is a folk-etymology alteration of another word (such as Norwegian svill "sill"). Or else the whole is from a similarly formed Low German source (kielschwin).

keenness (n.)

"state or quality of being keen," 1520s, from keen (adj.) + -ness.

keen (adj.)

c. 1200, kene, from Old English cene "bold, brave, fearless," in later Old English "clever, prudent, wise, intelligent," common Germanic (cognate with Old Norse kænn "skillful, wise," Middle Dutch coene "bold," Dutch koen, Old High German kuon "pugnacious, strong," German kühn "bold, daring"), but according to OED there are no cognates outside Germanic and the original meaning is "somewhat obscure"; it seem to have been both "brave" and "skilled." Perhaps the connection notion was "to be able" and the word is connected to the source of can (v.1).

Sense of "eager (to do something), vehement, ardent" is from c. 1300. The physical meaning "sharp, sharp-pointed, sharp-edged" (c. 1200) is peculiar to English. Extended senses from c. 1300: Of sounds, "loud, shrill;" of cold, fire, wind, etc. "biting, bitter, cutting." Of eyesight c. 1720. A popular word of approval in teenager and student slang from c. 1900. Keener was 19c. U.S. Western slang for a person considered sharp or shrewd in bargaining.