kid

¹

[kid]

noun

1. Informal.,  a child or young person.

2. (used as a familiar form of address.)

3. a young goat.

4. leather made from the skin of a kid or goat, used in making shoes and gloves.

5. a glove made from this leather.

verb (used with or without object)

kidded, kidding 

1. (of a goat) to give birth to (young).

adjective

1. made of kidskin.

2. Informal.,  younger.

   his kid sister.

kid

²

[kid]

verb (used with object)

kidded, kidding 

1. to talk or deal jokingly with; banter; jest with.

   She is always kidded about her accent.

   Synonyms: rib, josh, tease

2. to humbug or fool.

verb (used without object)

kidded, kidding 

1. to speak or act deceptively in jest; jest.

Kid

³

[kid]

noun

1. Thomas. Kyd, Thomas.

kid

¹

/ kɪd /

noun

1. the young of a goat or of a related animal, such as an antelope

2. soft smooth leather made from the hide of a kid

3. informal

   1. a young person; child

   2. (modifier) younger or being still a child

      kid brother

      kid sister

4. dialect,  my younger brother or sister

verb

1. (of a goat) to give birth to (young)

kid

²

/ kɪd /

verb

1. (tr) to tease or deceive for fun

2. (intr) to behave or speak deceptively for fun

3. (tr) to delude or fool (oneself) into believing (something)

   don't kid yourself that no-one else knows

Kid

³

/ kɪd /

noun

1. a variant spelling of (Thomas) Kyd

kid

⁴

/ kɪd /

noun

1. a small wooden tub

Other Word Forms

• kiddish adjective
• kiddishness noun
• kidlike adjective
• kidder noun
• kiddingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of kid¹

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English kide, from Old Norse kith

Origin of kid²

First recorded in 1805–15; perhaps special use of kid ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of kid¹

C12: of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse kith, Shetland Islands kidi lamb

Origin of kid²

C19: probably from _kid ¹

Origin of kid³

C18: probably variant of _kit ¹ (in the sense: barrel)

Idioms and Phrases

• handle with (kid) gloves
• kidding

Example Sentences

“I would walk around with that coffee cup as if it was a gold medal. I made it out of the house. Every one of these kids has shoes on. Nobody’s dead.”

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Every day, his mother — who cleaned houses and taught piano and guitar — packed him a peanut-butter sandwich on whole-wheat bread for lunch, “which sucks when you’re a kid.”

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The first Stanford was made of real students, who defy tidy put-downs of “kids these days.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

I wanted to do that when I visited with my kids in the middle of my mom’s illness, but she ended up back in the hospital three hours into our visit.

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There is a park where locals gather to listen to music and have a drink or watch their kids play together.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• baby 
• boy 
• child 
• daughter 
• girl 
• infant 
• son 
• teenager 
• youngster 
• youth