Keenly

How to spell keenly

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce keenly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does keenly mean?

1. adverbIn a way that shows sharp interest, strong eagerness, or intense feeling.

Keenly in a sentence

• The whole team was keenly aware that the deadline was approaching.

• She felt the loss of her colleague keenly in the weeks that followed.

Where does keenly come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This adverb is built from the adjective 'keen' plus the everyday adverb ending '-ly'. 'Keen' itself descends from the Old English cene, which meant 'bold, brave, or wise', and it has close cousins in the older Germanic languages, including the Old Norse koenn 'wise, skilful' and the German kuhn 'bold'. Over the centuries the sense in English drifted from courage and cleverness toward two main ideas: a literal sharpness, as of a blade or a cutting wind, and a figurative eagerness or intensity of feeling. The adverb form simply applies those qualities to verbs, so to feel something 'keenly' is to feel it sharply or intensely. Because the base word is a tidy four-letter unit, the only thing a writer has to remember is to keep both letters of '-ly' and not to drop the final 'e' fight, since 'keen' already ends in a consonant.

How the word is built

• keen (from Old English cene: sharp, eager)
• -ly (adverb suffix)