keening.
Sharp, shrill, especially of a sound.
Meaning & usage
Sharp, shrill, especially of a sound.
The keening sound of a dentist's drill sets my teeth on edge.
Where this word comes from
From keen + -ing, from Irish caoin.
Intense mournful wailing after a death, often at a funeral or wake.
An unpleasant wailing sound.
Where this word comes from
From keen + -ing, from Irish caoin.
present participle and gerund of keen
Where this word comes from
From keen + -ing, from Irish caoin.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.