Keno
//ˈkiːnəʊ// name, noun
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A gambling game, a variety of lotto, played with balls or knobs, numbered, and cards also numbered. uncountable
"Memories of this night are extremely hazy. All I have, for guide-pegs, is a pocketful of keno cards and cocktail napkins, all covered with scribbled notes."
- 2 a game in which numbered balls are drawn at random and players cover the corresponding numbers on their cards wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 Ellipsis of Keno City. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 2 Ellipsis of Keno Hill. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 3 A region of Yukon, Canada, the region around Keno Hill and Keno City.
Example
More examples"Memories of this night are extremely hazy. All I have, for guide-pegs, is a pocketful of keno cards and cocktail napkins, all covered with scribbled notes."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From French quine, with reference to a set of five winning lottery numbers.
Etymology 2
From keno (“gambling game”). The hill and region are named after the city.
Related phrases
More for "keno"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.