Word · CEFR B2 · Frequency #2280
keen
恸哭；哀悼；哭丧
to wail in grief; to lament or mourn, especially at a funeral
- 1.
To utter a keen.
发出恸哭
- 2.
To utter with a loud wailing voice or wordless cry.
发出大声哀号或无言的哭喊
- 3.
express grief verbally
用言语表达悲伤
- 4.
To mourn.
哀悼
发出恸哭；发出大声哀号或无言的哭喊；用言语表达悲伤；哀悼；唱挽歌
In use
The women keened loudly at the funeral.
She keened for her lost child.
They keened together in grief.
keen over/for sb/sth
The family keened over the loss of their beloved grandfather.
家人哀悼他们深爱的祖父的去世。
keen sb/sth
She keened her husband's death for many years.
她哀悼她丈夫的去世多年。
Verb forms
base keen · third person keens · -ing keening · past keened · past participle keened
规则动词，表示哀悼时痛哭。
Common mistakes
She keened her lost son.
Connections
Collocations
- keen over
- 对着（死者/遗体）哀号痛哭
- At the funeral, the mourners keened over the coffin.葬礼上，送葬者对着棺材哀号痛哭。
- keen in grief
- 因悲伤而恸哭
- He stood beside the grave, keening in grief.他站在墓旁，悲痛地恸哭。
- keen loudly
- 大声恸哭；放声哀号
- The old woman keened loudly as the grave was filled.坟墓填土时，那位老妇人放声哀号。
Pop culture & quotes
- keening her losses, repeating again and again
- 为她失去的一切恸哭，一遍又一遍地重复着In Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf, this phrase describes a Geat woman keening her losses at the funeral.在谢默斯·希尼翻译的《贝奥武甫》中，这句话描写了一位耶阿特妇女在葬礼上为失去的亲人恸哭。
Synonyms
Learner notes
Memory Tip
联想：kin（亲属）与 keen 同音，亲人离世时恸哭哀悼。
Context & Register
语域：formal 常见场景：literary prose、historical accounts of mourning 作动词时，keen 通常表示“恸哭、哀悼”，多用于文学或历史叙述中，比较正式，口语中不常见。
Pronunciation & Spelling
These words all rhyme with 'keen' (/kin/), ending in the same /-in/ sound. Beware of lookalikes that do not rhyme: 'kin' (/kɪn/) and 'been' (often /bɪn/ in British English) have a different vowel sound.
High-value vocabulary
该词属于 Oxford 核心词汇，值得优先掌握常见搭配和句型。
Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 3，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from DICTIONARY_API_DEV, ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.