Karen

See also: karen and kåren

English

Etymology 1

From Danish Karen, a vernacular form of Catherine that arose in medieval Denmark.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkæɹən/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈkæɹən/, /ˈkɛɹən/, /ˈkɑɹən/, /ˈkɛɚn/, /ˈkɑɚn/
  • Rhymes: -æɹən, -ɛɹən, -ɛə(ɹ)n, -ɑː(ɹ)n
  • Homophone: caron
  • Homophone: caring (weak vowel merger, G-dropping)
  • Homophones: cairn, carn (some American accents)

Proper noun

Karen

  1. A female given name. First taken up as a given name in the U.S.A., and popular in the English-speaking world from the 1950s to the 1970s.
    • 1878 Celia Thaxter, Drift-Weed, Houghton, Osgood,1878, page 28 ("Karen"):
      Left you a lover in that far land, / O Karen sad, that you pine so long! / Would I could unravel and understand / That sorrowful, sweet Norwegian song!
    • 1918 Cecily Ullman Sidgwick, Karen, W.Collins, 1918, page 12:
      I was not called Karen after Hans Andersen's dancing girl, but after a Danish friend of my mother's who married an Englishman and was my godmother. So much for our family affairs.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Parthian 𐭊𐭓𐭍𐭉‎ (krny /Kārēn/), from Old Iranian [Term?] *kar-ina-. The Armenian name is from Armenian Կարեն (Karen), from the same Parthian name.

Alternative forms

  • Garen (from Western Armenian)
  • Kārēn (from Middle Iranian)
  • Qarin, Qārin (from Arabic)
  • Karin, Kārin (from New Iranian)

Proper noun

Karen

  1. (historical) one of the seven great Parthian feudal families
  2. An Armenian male given name
Synonyms
  • Karen-Pahlav, Karen-Pahlaw
Translations

References

Etymology 3

From Burmese ကရင် (ka.rang, “wild, low-caste man”).

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Karen

  1. A group of languages of Myanmar and Thailand.

Further reading

Ethnologue report on the Karen languages

Anagrams

Cebuano

Etymology

From English Karen, from Danish.

Proper noun

Karen

  1. a female given name

Danish

Etymology

A medieval variant of Katharina (“Catherine”).

Proper noun

Karen

  1. A female given name.

References

  • Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 83 320 females with the given name Karen have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 1910s. Accessed on 19 May 2011.

German

Alternative forms

Proper noun

Karen

  1. A female given name borrowed from Danish Karen.

Icelandic

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkʰaːrɛ(ː)n/

Proper noun

Karen f

  1. A female given name

Declension

Sometimes also Karen in accusative and dative.

Luxembourgish

Noun

Karen

  1. plural of Kar (“cart”)

Norwegian

Proper noun

Karen

  1. A female given name of Danish origin.
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