kindergarten
Americannoun
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kindergartens
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of kindergarten
1850–55; < German: literally, children's garden, equivalent to Kinder children ( see kind 2) + Garten garden
Explanation
Kindergarten is where children are introduced to school; it's where five year old children learn all about their ABC's and choice time. Kindergarten comes from the German words Kinder ("children") and Garten ("garden"). A garden of children is a lovely and poetic image for a classroom full of antsy kids trying their hardest to master basic skills and ideas through creative and interactive lessons. But perhaps that is just how they were seen by the 19th-century German educator Friedrich Fröbel, who is credited with inventing kindergarten, his "method of developing intelligence in young children."
Vocabulary lists containing kindergarten
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Words Derived from German
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As early as kindergarten, children who mainly speak a foreign language at home could be designated as an English learner and placed in language classes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
A smaller number of comments applauded the administration’s plan saying that it would “strengthen kindergarten readiness.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Dinowitz and Krishnan are also calling for the city to ban gamified learning apps, eliminate individual digital devices for kindergarten through fifth grade and move back to paper and pencil for standardized tests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
The rate for the MMR vaccines for children entering kindergarten is in the low 80s, still below herd immunity.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
Children who, back in Chicago, would be in kindergarten.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
"Prolonged air-raid alerts affect not only people's safety, but also the operation of businesses, logistics, transportation, schools, kindergartens," he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
Heads of kindergartens are given specialized crisis training and emergency supplies with radios, first-aid kits and portable stoves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Essential to the modern apateu are the amenities — such as on-site kindergartens or convenience stores — that allow them to function like miniature towns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2025
Without the creche she would have struggled to return to work: she didn't want to lean on her own parents, and state kindergartens won't generally take children for a full day.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2025
It had long been a leader in education, establishing one of the first kindergartens and introducing practice teaching to further the studies of its students.
From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
