karen
Kar·en/ˈkæɹən/noun
karen is a noun meaning “Alternative letter-case form of Karen (“(derogatory) any person, especially female, exhibiting an exaggerated sense of entitlement”)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled K-A-R-E-N and has 2 syllables (Kar·en), and it appears 12 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of karen is karens.
What does karen mean?
noun
- 1
Alternative letter-case form of Karen (“(derogatory) any person, especially female, exhibiting an exaggerated sense of entitlement”).
noun
- 1
derogatoryslangA middle-aged white woman who exhibits a strong sense of white privilege and entitlement–often rooted in racism against minority races–and frequently targets or antagonizes individuals who face greater societal challenges or must work significantly harder than she.
- 2
derogatoryAny 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.
- 3
A member of a diverse ethnic group originating in Myanmar and Thailand.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce karen?
- /ˈkæɹən/
- /ˈkɛɹən/
- /kəˈɹɛn/
- /kəˈɹɪ̟n/
Karen has 2 syllables, split Kar·en in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Karen.wav, En-us-Karen.mp3, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Karen2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of karen
- karens plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is karen?
Karen appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,138th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Words people confuse with karen
Sounds like: caron (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Karen in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.