kens

Kens is the plural form of ken in English, though the word is most often used in the singular when referring to knowledge or perception. Ken has two principal senses: knowledge or understanding, and the extent of one’s perception or range of vision. The phrase within one’s ken denotes the limits of what one knows or can perceive. While ken can be pluralized as kens in theory, the countable plural is rare in ordinary usage; writers typically treat ken as uncountable and use phrases like areas beyond one’s ken.

In a separate sense, ken is a transliteration of the Japanese word kanji 剣 meaning sword. In English, this ken would be pluralized as kens only when explicitly counting swords, though it is more common to refer to swords or blades in everyday language. The sword sense is largely encountered in historical, literary, or martial-arts contexts and is distinct from the knowledge sense.

Kens also appears as a proper name or in acronyms. As a surname or given name, ken can occur in various cultures. In contemporary media, KENS is the call sign of a television station in San Antonio, Texas, and the sequence may appear as an acronym in other institutional labels. Because the word spans different domains, its capitalization and pluralization depend on the intended meaning and the surrounding context.