kein

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Breton

Etymology

Cognate with Welsh cefn (back), Cornish keyn (back), Gaulish Cebenna (ridge, height) (whence French Cévennes), ultimately from Proto-Celtic *kebno- (back), from Pre-Celtic *kebn-, which could be related to *kambos (crooked, bent).[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

kein m (plural keinoù)

  1. back (the rear of body)

Inflection

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References

  1. ^ The Journal of Celtic Studies. (1958). United States: Temple University at the Waverly Press, p. 3

German

Etymology

From Middle High German kein; from the merger of dechein/dehein (someone; anyone), from Old High German dehein; and nechein/nehein (not any), from Old High German nihein. Compare Dutch geen, Yiddish קיין (keyn). More at none.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

kein

  1. no; not a(n); not one; not any
    Das ist kein Bett.That is not a bed. (literally, “That is no bed.”)
    Es gibt kein Brot. (accusative)There is no bread.

Usage notes

  • In colloquial spoken German, the masculine nominative forms mein, dein, kein, etc may not be distinguished from the accusative forms meinen, deinen, keinen etc in adjectival use. The distinction is maintained in substantival use, i.e. without a following noun.

Declension

Declension of kein
masculine feminine neuter plural
nominative kein keine kein keine
genitive keines keiner keines keiner
dative keinem keiner keinem keinen
accusative keinen keine kein keine

The declension pattern for kein follows that of ein (a) and the possessive determiners, as does the declension of adjectives that follow kein. For the most part, the adjectives decline like those that appear after the definite article (the so-called weak declension pattern for German adjectives). However, kein lacks a masculine marker in the nominative case and a neuter marker in the nominative and accusative cases. Accordingly, adjectives following that plain form take an -er or -es to indicate the gender.

Derived terms

Further reading

  • kein” in Duden online
  • kein” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian *kēne, from Proto-West Germanic *kōnī, from Proto-Germanic *kōniz (brave). Cognate with English keen, Dutch koen, German kühn.

Pronunciation

Adjective

kein

  1. proud, lively, perky
  2. appropriate, neat
  3. pretty, charming
  4. prudish; chaste

Inflection

Inflection of kein
uninflected kein
inflected keine
comparative keinder
keiner
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial kein keinder
keiner
it keinst
it keinste
indefinite c. sing. keine keindere
keinere
keinste
n. sing. kein keinder
keiner
keinste
plural keine keindere
keinere
keinste
definite keine keindere
keinere
keinste
partitive keins keinders
keiners

Further reading

  • kein”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011