kein

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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛjn/

Noun

kein m (plural keinoù)

1. back (the rear of body)

Inflection

Mutation of kein

	unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard
singular	kein	gein	c'hein	unchanged
plural	keinoù	geinoù	c'heinoù	unchanged

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

• (Standard German)
  • IPA^(key): /kaɪ̯n/

  • Audio:

    (file)

• (Swabian)
  • IPA^(key): /kɔɪ̯/
• Rhymes: -aɪ̯n
• Homophone: Kain
• Homophone: keinen (according to a common pronunciation of this form)

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

• kein Blatt vor den Mund nehmen
• kein Jota
• kein Kommentar
• kein Problem
• kein unbeschriebenes Blatt sein
• kein Wässerchen trüben können
• kein Wunder

Related terms

• keiner

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

• (Clay) IPA^(key): /kai̯n/
• (Wood) IPA^(key): /kɛi̯n/

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