keening

English

Etymology

From keen +‎ -ing, from Irish caoin.

Adjective

keening (not comparable)

1. Sharp, shrill, especially of a sound.

   The keening sound of a dentist's drill sets my teeth on edge.

   • 2015, Steve Silberman, chapter 2, in Megan Newman, editor, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, New York: Avery, →ISBN, page 46:

     When Leo is happy, he bursts out in riffs of scat singing, making up little melodies as he goes. When he’s basically content but feeling restless, he makes a sound like tikka, tikka, tikka. If he’s more anxious than that, he makes a sound like Jimmy Durante: “Atch-cha-cha!” A sudden burst of happiness can inspire Leo to whirl his arms around and gallop in circles shouting, “Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!” When he’s tired, he makes a soft keening noise. And when Leo is hungry, he just sobs his heart out.

   • 2025 July 22, Kory Grow, “Ozzy Osbourne obituary: The Godfather of Heavy Metal who changed the world”, in Rolling Stone‎^[1]:

     As Black Sabbath’s doomsayer-in-chief, Osbourne could summon a true sense of terror in his keening cries in a way that heightened the band’s muscular dirges.

Translations

Sharp, shrill, especially of a sound

• French: perçant (fr) f

Noun

keening (countable and uncountable, plural keenings)

1. Intense mournful wailing after a death, often at a funeral or wake.
   • 1988, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, Faber & Faber Limited (2021), page 85:

     Keening. I remember keening that seemed to go on all through the night: shrill, sharp, shiny, needles of sound piercing cleanly and deeply to let the anguish in, not out.

2. (by extension) An unpleasant wailing sound.

Translations

Intense mournful wailing

• French: lamentation (fr) f
• German: Totenklage (de) f, Beklagen des/der Toten n

Verb

keening

1. present participle and gerund of keen

Anagrams

• kneeing