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504 entries found
kraken (n.)

sea-monster said to appear from time to time off the coast of Norway, 1755, from Norwegian dialectal krake (the -n is the definite article as a suffix), apparently a special use of krake "pole, stake, post," also "crooked tree, stunted animal or person."

The popular notion of the kraken dates back at least to the time of Pontoppidan (1698-1764), who wrote a description of it. One of the giant squids, as a cephalopod of the genus Architeuthis, might furnish a reasonable basis for the myth. [Century Dictionary]
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Krakow 
city in southern Poland, said to have been named for a supposed founder, Krak. Related: Krakowiak.
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Kraut (n.)
"a German" (especially a German soldier), 1841, but popularized during World War I, from German kraut "cabbage," considered a characteristic national dish. The "cabbage" sense is attested in English from 1855.
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Krebs cycle 
1941, named for Sir Hans Adolf Krebs (1900-1981), German-born British biochemist.
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Kremlin 
1660s, Cremelena, from Old Russian kremlinu, later kremlin (1796), from kreml' "citadel, fortress," a word perhaps of Tartar origin. Originally the citadel of any Russian town or city, now especially the one in Moscow (which enclosed the imperial palace, churches, etc.). Used metonymically for "government of the U.S.S.R." from 1933. The modern form of the word in English might be via French.
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kreutzer (n.)
small coin of Germany and Austria, 1540s, so called because formerly marked with a cross, from German Kreuz (see cross (n.)).
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kriegspiel (n.)

war games played on maps with blocks representing bodies of soldiers, 1873 (once, from 1811, as a German word in English), from German Kriegsspiel, literally "war game," from Krieg "war," from Middle High German kriec, "combat," mostly "exertion, effort; opposition, enmity, resistance," from Old High German chreg "stubbornness, defiance, obstinacy," from Proto-Germanic *krig-, which is perhaps from PIE root *gwere- (1) "heavy" or cognate with Greek hybris "violence" (see hubris; also see war (n.)). For second element, see spiel (n.). Introduced 1870s as officer training in British army.

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krill (n.)
1886, from Norwegian kril "small fry of fish."
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kris (n.)
short Malay dagger with a wavy blade, 1570s, said to be a Javanese word. In early use also spelled creese, etc.
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Krishna 

eighth avatar of Vishnu, 1793, from Sanskrit krshnah, literally "the Black One," from PIE *kers-no-, suffixed form of root *kers- "dark, dirty" (source also of Old Church Slavonic crunu, Russian coron, Serbo-Croatian crn, Czech cerny, Old Prussian kirsnan "black," Lithuanian keršas "black and white, variegated").

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