Ken appeared on the English horizon in the 16th century referring to the distance bounding the range of ordinary vision at sea (about 20 miles), and would thus have been familiar to skippers in particular. …

KEN definition: knowledge, understanding, or cognizance; mental perception. See examples of ken used in a sentence.

1. knowledge or understanding: an idea beyond one's ken. 2. range of sight or vision.

In this context, the phrase is infelicitous : ' beyond one's ken ', in its ordinary usage, means beyond one's powers of comprehension. Workers who were not unionized - and they were the majority - were …

Dec 28, 2025 · In common usage a fossil word, found only in phrases such as beyond one’s ken and swim into one’s ken.

7 meanings: 1. range of knowledge or perception (esp in the phrases beyond or in one's ken) 2. Scottish and Northern England.... Click for more definitions.

Definition of ken noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

Ken definition: Perception; understanding.

These changes occurred for reasons that are beyond my ken. [=reasons that I do not know or understand] miracles that are beyond human ken [=miracles that cannot be understood by human …

The noun ken means "range of vision or comprehension." If quantum mechanics is beyond your ken, you don't understand it, or it is beyond your scope of knowledge. Ken is rarely used today outside of …