kein

Breton

Etymology

Cognate with Welsh cefn (“back”), Cornish keyn (“back”), Gaulish Cebenna (“ridge, height”) (whence French Cévennes), ultimately from Proto-Celtic *kebno- (“back”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛjn/

Noun

kein m (plural keinoù)

1. back (the rear of body)

Inflection

  Mutation of kein  

Breton consonant mutation
	unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed
singular	kein	gein	c'hein	unchanged	unchanged
plural	keinoù	geinoù	c'heinoù	unchanged	unchanged

---

German

Etymology

From Middle High German kein, from the merger of Middle High German dechein, dehein ("someone; anyone", from Old High German dehein) and Middle High German nechein, nehein ("not any", from Old High German nihein). More at none.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaɪ̯n/

• Audio

  (file)

• 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.” (Compare with: “That is no bed.”)

Declension

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:

case / gender	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	kein guter Vater	keine gute Mutter	kein gutes Wort	keine guten Wörter
genitive	keines guten Vaters	keiner guten Mutter	keines guten Wortes	keiner guten Wörter
dative	keinem guten Vater	keiner guten Mutter	keinem guten Wort	keinen guten Wörtern
accusative	keinen guten Vater	keine gute Mutter	kein gutes Wort	keine guten Wörter

Related terms

• keiner

Further reading

• kein in Duden online

---

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian *kēne, from Proto-Germanic *kōniz (“brave”). Cognate with English keen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaɪ̯n/

Adjective

kein

1. pretty, charming
2. chaste