kid
/ˈkɪd/ noun, verb
Forms kids kidding kidded the KID
- noun (informal) A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult. “She's a kid. It's normal for her to have imaginary friends.”
- noun (informal) A person whose childhood took place in a particular time period or area. “Only '90s kids will remember this toy.”
- noun (informal) One's son or daughter, regardless of age. “This is Bobby, he is our youngest kid.”
- noun (in the vocative) Used as a form of address for a child, teenager or young adult.
- noun (colloquial) An inexperienced person or one in a junior position.
- noun A young goat. “He treated the oxen like they didn't exist, but he treated the goat kid like a puppy.”
- noun (uncountable) Kidskin.
- noun (uncountable) The meat of a young goat.
- verb (transitive, colloquial, usually present participle) To dupe or deceive. “Are you kidding me?”
- verb (transitive, colloquial, usually present participle) To deceive or dupe as a joke. “Stop kidding me! It's not funny.”
- verb (reflexive, usually present participle) To deceive oneself by having unrealistic expectations. “You're kidding yourself if you think you can be a rockstar.”
- verb (transitive, colloquial, usually present participle) To mock or make a fool of (someone) in a playful way. “They were always kidding her for her stutter.”
- verb (intransitive, colloquial, usually present participle) To joke. “You must be kidding!”
- verb (intransitive) Of a goat: to give birth. “That nanny over there with the white tail has kidded every year for the last five years.”
- noun (UK, dialectal) A seed pod, usually of a leguminous plant.
- noun (dated) Synonym of faggot (“bundle of heath and furze”).
Synonyms
bairn brat child chit crumb cruncher crumb crusher crumb grinder crumb snatcher fry juvenile kiddie little one minor mini-me moppet munchkin nipper slip small fry sprog youngster shaver tiddler tike tyke nestling kidskin Kyd Thomas Kyd Thomas Kid
Etymology
From Middle English kide, from Old Norse kið (“young goat”), from Proto-Germanic *kidją, *kittīną (“goatling, kid”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gʰaydn-, *ǵʰaydn- (“goat”) or Proto-Indo-European *gidʰ- (“kid, goatling, little goat”). Compare Swedish and Danish kid, German Kitz and Kitze, Albanian kedh and kec. The sense of child has been in use since the 1590s as slang, and since the 1840s in informal use.
Of uncertain origin. Possibly from Middle English *kidde, from Old English *cydde (“pouch, belly”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuddijā, derived from or related to Proto-Germanic *kuddô (“bag, sack, pod, shell, husk”).
Compare Welsh cidysen.
Abbreviation
Webster’s 1913
- noun A young goat.
- noun A young child or infant; hence, a simple person, easily imposed on. [Slang] Charles Reade.
- verb To bring forth a young goat.
- noun A fagot; a bundle of heath and furze. [Prov. Eng.] Wright.
Etymology [Of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. ki, Dan. & Sw. kid; akin to OHG. kizzi, G. kitz, kitzchen, kitzlein.]
Etymology [Cf. W. cidysen.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “kid”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details