kindergarten
Americannoun
-
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:
Today’s kindergarten enrollment declines reflect the “missing” births of five to six years earlier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
In 2014, at the very bottom of Springfield’s income collapse, Daniels was working at Horace Mann Elementary, onboarding the new kindergarten class, when she realized something was amiss.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026
Researchers followed 1.6 million children who started kindergarten between 2011 and 2014, comparing the later reading and math scores of children who had access to TK before kindergarten with those who did not.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
Yasya, Varvara and two girls both named Anya -- 11-year-old friends since kindergarten -- huddled around a table.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
He sounded like they were in kindergarten and today was his birthday.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
"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
Getting vaccinated against hepatitis A has never been required as a condition of entry to California’s kindergartens or child-care centers, however.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2025
She used the knowledge she had gained teaching at kindergartens in Germany to make education enjoyable and approachable for her students.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2024
Their son’s application to several kindergartens met with quick rejections, unaccompanied by explanations.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
