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.
Meanings
(derogatory, slang) A 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.
“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. 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, →ISSN:
He plays a suburban homeowner who loves nothing more than to snitch on his fellow whites, calling the cops on any Caucasian who steps foot on his lawn, be they old lady, a girl scout, or Colin Jost. Charlie xcx gets in on the action as his proud Karen of a wife. 2024 November 17, Zach Vasquez, “Saturday Night Live: Charli xcx has fun in otherwise middle of the road episode”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
“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 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:
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. 2020 December 27, Julia Carrie Wong, “The year of Karen: how a meme changed the way Americans talked about racism”, in The Guardian:
(broadly, 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.
Space Karen (terms derived from Karen (entitled woman or person)) · Karenhood (terms derived from Karen (entitled woman or person)) · anti-Karen (terms derived from Karen (entitled woman or person)) · Qaren (terms derived from Karen (entitled woman or person)) · Karen haircut (terms derived from Karen (entitled woman or person)) · Karenism (terms derived from Karen (entitled woman or person)) · Karenicity (terms derived from Karen (entitled woman or person))
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.
Meanings
A female given name from Danish.
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. 1918 Cecily Ullman Sidgwick, Karen, W.Collins, 1918, page 12
“There’s a sense of betrayal,” said the former Hamtramck mayor Karen Majewski, who is Polish American. 2023 June 17, Tom Perkins, “‘A sense of betrayal’: liberal dismay as Muslim-led US city bans Pride flags”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2023:
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! 1878 Celia Thaxter, Drift-Weed, Houghton, Osgood,1878, page 28 ("Karen")
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
Karyn
alternative
lexicographic
Karin
alternative
lexicographic
Caron
alternative
lexicographic
Caryn
alternative
lexicographic
Caren
alternative
lexicographic
Translations (10)
fr Karyne (female given name) · ru Ка́рен (female given name) · pt Karen (female given name) · fr Carin (female given name) · fr Karine (female given name) · fr Carine (female given name) · el Κάρεν (female given name) · he קֶרֶן (female given name) · mr कॅरेन (female given name) · fr Karin (female given name)
hy Կարեն (Armenian male given name) · la Carenes (one of the seven great Parthian feudal families) · xcl Կարէն (Armenian male given name) · xcl Կարենի պահլաւ (one of the seven great Parthian feudal families) · ru Каре́н (Armenian male given name) · fa قارن (one of the seven great Parthian feudal families) · grc Καρανος (one of the seven great Parthian feudal families) · pal 𐭪𐭠𐭫𐭭𐭩 (one of the seven great Parthian feudal families) · fa کارن (one of the seven great Parthian feudal families) · fa کارن (Armenian male given name) · xpr 𐭊𐭓𐭍𐭉 (one of the seven great Parthian feudal families)
A member of a diverse ethnic group originating in Myanmar and Thailand.
U Nu's government was Socialist with a program of nationalization. But it had to fight for survival against almost universal disorder complicated by a Communist rebellion, a Karen rising, which was far more serious, and, in 1950, the arrival from Yünnan of General Li Mi's Kuomintang division after its rout by the Chinese Communists. 1968, Daniel George Edward Hall, “Burma”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 4, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 442, column 2:
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. 2011, Terry Miller, Sean Williams, The Garland Handbook of Southeast Asian Music, page 303:
cmn 克倫人 /克伦人 (member of an ethnic group) · cmn 克倫族 /克伦族 (member of an ethnic group) · ksw ကညီ (member of an ethnic group) · cmn 克伦人 (member of an ethnic group) · mnw ကရေင် (member of an ethnic group) · fr karen (member of an ethnic group) · cmn 克伦族 (member of an ethnic group) · th กะเหรี่ยง (member of an ethnic group) · my ကရင် (member of an ethnic group) · fi kareni (member of an ethnic group)