Wiktionary

Karen

See also: karen and kåren

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology 1

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From Danish Karen, a vernacular form of Catherine that arose in medieval Denmark. The sense "middle-aged woman" comes from the popularity of the name among baby boomers and Gen-Xers. The derogatory usage was popularized via African-American Vernacular English.[1]

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Karen

  1. A female given name from Ancient Greek.
    • 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.
Usage notes
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  • First taken up as a given name in the US, and popular in the English-speaking world from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Translations
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Noun

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Karen (plural Karens)

  1. (originally African-American Vernacular, derogatory) A middle-aged white woman exhibiting a sense of entitlement or white privilege.
    Coordinate term: Darren
    • 2020 May 26, Sarah Maslin Nir, quoting Christian Cooper, “White Woman Is Fired After Calling Police on Black Man in Central Park”, in The New York Times‎[2]:
      “I pull out the dog treats I carry for just for such intransigence,” he wrote. “That’s when I started video recording with my iPhone, and when her inner Karen fully emerged and took a dark turn,” he said, using the name that has become slang for an entitled white woman.
    • 2020 December 27, Julia Carrie Wong, “The year of Karen: how a meme changed the way Americans talked about racism”, in The Guardian‎[3]:
      It was through that performance that Amy Cooper took on the mantle of an American archetype: the white woman who weaponizes her vulnerability to exact violence upon a Black man. […] In 2020, she is simply Karen.
    • 2024 February 2, Alaina Demopoulos, quoting Jeremy, “‘I’m annoying, to some degree’: New York’s dog owners debate Chloë Sevigny’s anti-pup take”, in The Guardian‎[4], →ISSN:
      “If I lived Chloe’s life, where she was walking around with other wealthy people basically being upper-class Karens having a fit when their dogs aren’t allowed at yoga, then I might understand,” he said.
  2. (by extension, derogatory) Any person, especially female, exhibiting an exaggerated sense of entitlement.
    This Karen threatened to get me fired if I didn't give her a free meal.
    • 2021 Adam Korson as Phil Orley in "Ft. Ghost Child", episode five of SurrealEstate
      The organization wasn't meeting my needs, so I became a total Karen and asked to see the manager. He wasn't available so I took my business elsewhere.
Derived terms
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terms derived from Karen (entitled woman or person)
Translations
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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Nagesh, Ashitha (2020 July 31) “What exactly is a 'Karen' and where did the meme come from?”, in BBC News‎[1], BBC, retrieved 2020-07-30: “Although its exact origins are uncertain, the meme became popular a few years ago as a way for people of colour, particularly black Americans, to satirise the class-based and racially charged hostility they often face.”

Etymology 2

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From Parthian 𐭊𐭓𐭍𐭉 (krny /⁠Kārēn⁠/), from Old Iranian. The Armenian name is from Armenian Կարեն (Karen), from the same Parthian name.

Alternative forms

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Proper noun

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Karen

  1. (historical) One of the seven great Parthian feudal families.
  2. A transliteration of the Armenian male given name Կարեն (Karen).
Synonyms
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Translations
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References

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Etymology 3

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From Burmese ကရင် (ka.rang), of disputed origin.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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Karen (plural Karens or Karen)

  2. A member of a diverse ethnic group originating in Myanmar and Thailand.
    Synonym: Kayin
    • 2011, Terry Miller, Sean Williams, The Garland Handbook of Southeast Asian Music, page 303:
      There are more than a hundred such groups, including the Karen of Thailand and Burma; the Kachin in Burma; the Akha, the Lahu, and the Lisu in Thailand; the Hmong, the Kmhmu, and the Yao in Laos; and the Nùng and the Lati in Vietnam.
Translations
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Proper noun

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Karen

  1. A group of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken by people of the Karen ethnic group, also called Karenic.
  2. Former name of Kayin (“state (administrative division) of Myanmar”).
Translations
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Derived terms

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References

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Anagrams

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Cebuano

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Etymology

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From English Karen, from Danish.

Proper noun

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Karen

  1. a female given name from English [in turn from Danish, in turn from Ancient Greek]

Quotations

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For quotations using this term, see Citations:Karen.

Danish

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Etymology

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A medieval variant of Katharina (“Catherine”).

Proper noun

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Karen

  1. a female given name

Descendants

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  • → English: Karen
  • → German: Karen
  • → Icelandic: Karen
  • → Norwegian: Karen

References

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  • [5] 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.

Finnish

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Proper noun

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Karen

  1. genitive singular of Kare (the given name)

Anagrams

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German

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Danish Karen.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Karen

  1. a female given name, a much less popular variant of Karin
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Icelandic

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Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Karen f

  1. a female given name

Declension

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    Declension of Karen
f-s1 singular
indefinite
nominative Karen
accusative Karenu
dative Karenu
genitive Karenar

Sometimes also Karen in accusative and dative.

Luxembourgish

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Noun

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Karen

  1. plural of Kar (“cart”)

Norwegian

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Proper noun

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Karen

  1. a female given name of Danish origin
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