Definition: Would you believe that Barbie's boyfriend's name means (1) vision, foresight, knowledge—or (2) a house where unsavory characters gather (British criminal argot)? Well, today's is a different word though pronounced the same.

Usage: The use of the verb from which today's word derives is limited pretty much to Scotland and, perhaps, northern England today, where it means "to know, understand, recognize." The past tense may be "kenned" or "kent," as in I dinnae ken where tae start "I didn't know where to start."

Suggested Usage: It is most commonly met elsewhere in expressions of extent of knowledge, such as "That lies outside my ken of the subject" or "Barbie's preferences in bubble-gum are certainly within Ken's ken (or Ken's kin's ken)." Don't forget to try the verb, too, when you visit the land of kilts and pipes, "You wouldnae ken him without his toupee."

Etymology: From Old English cennan possibly from Old Norse kenna "to know," akin to German kennen "to recognize" and, of course, English "know." Other relatives include the [gn] in Latin cognoscere "be acquainted with," which underlies our "cognizant," "recognize" and others, and ingnorare "to not know," which led to our "ignore" and "ignorant." On the Greek side of the family, we find gnosis "knowledge," the root of words like "diagnosis," "prognosis," and others. Finally—and closer to home—the English word "couth" originally meant "(well-)known" and "kith" of "kith and kin" fame, set out as cyththu "knowledge, acquaintance." The loss of the nasalization [n] is not uncommon among Indo-European languages.