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:
The school has more than 400 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
The kingdom's civil defence agency also said "interception debris" had damaged a kindergarten and a medical complex in Riyadh.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
He has said they started teaching him advanced physics in kindergarten and by ninth grade, he had begun crafting plans to start a company someday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Ozuna said that her daughter, the kindergarten teacher, holds a college degree and is working toward becoming a certified teacher but has struggled to get through a series of financial hoops.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026
“Hey, remember when we were in kindergarten or first grade, and the teacher read us the ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ story?”
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
"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
Zohran Mamdani promises policies along such lines: a rent freeze, free buses, free kindergartens, etc.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2025
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
"Places should stop operating if they do not comply with current standards, in crowded places such as hotels, residences, nursing homes or kindergartens," says Prof Atayilmaz of Yildiz Technical University.
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2025
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.
