kindergarten

[ kin-der-gahr-tn, -dn ]

/ ˈkɪn dərˌgɑr tn, -dn /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR kindergarten ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a school or class for young children between the ages of four and six years.

RELATED WORDS

babysitter, playgroup

Nearby words

Origin of kindergarten

1850–55; < German: literally, children's garden, equivalent to Kinder children (see kind²) + Garten garden

Related formspre·kin·der·gar·ten, noun, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for kindergarten

Now, some of the kindergarten children were standing straight as soldiers in a line at the door of their first-floor classroom.
Freedom From Fear for Dreamer Kids|Mike Barnicle|November 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Many cases were kindergarten age, and EV-68 accounted for more than 80 percent of cases.
Midwest's 'Mystery Virus' Is Scary but Not Deadly|Kent Sepkowitz|September 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He was able to go to the beach, to the park, and even to his kindergarten graduation.
Canadian Parents Risk Jail to Give Sick Kid Marijuana|Tim Mak|July 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
From kindergarten through their senior years, kids spend much of their waking life in school.
The Government is Still Failing Kids on School Lunches|Russell Saunders|May 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST

There is a set of booster vaccines at about kindergarten age, with a little bit of variation from practice to practice.
Jenny McCarthy Says She’s Never Been Anti-Vaccine. Yeah, Right.|Russell Saunders|April 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The making and re-making of the nest was learnt on kindergarten principles.
"Wee Tim'rous Beasties"|Douglas English
At seventeen to be treated like a kindergarten infant, indeed!
The Jolliest Term on Record|Angela Brazil
He look 'way up high on Christmas-tree, then he leave his conscious in kindergarten room.
Mr. Bamboo and the Honorable Little God|Fannie C. Macaulay
Now that Andy was in kindergarten both parents stood up when the count was for Miss Prouty's room.
Jerry's Charge Account|Hazel Hutchins Wilson
This is true; but such persons should not undertake to keep a kindergarten.
Education in The Home, The Kindergarten, and The Primary School|Elizabeth P. Peabody

British Dictionary definitions for kindergarten

kindergarten

/ (ˈkɪndəˌɡɑːtən) /

noun

a class or small school for young children, usually between the ages of four and six to prepare them for primary educationOften shortened to (in Australia and New Zealand): kinder, kindy, kindie

Derived Formskindergartener, noun

Word Origin for kindergarten

C19: from German, literally: children's garden

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for kindergarten

kindergarten

1852, from German, literally "children's garden," from Kinder "children" (plural of Kind "child;" see kin (n.)) + Garten "garden" (see yard (n.1)). Coined 1840 by German educator Friedrich Fröbel (1782-1852) in reference to his method of developing intelligence in young children.

Kindergarten means a garden of children, and Froebel, the inventor of it, or rather, as he would prefer to express it, the discoverer of the method of Nature, meant to symbolize by the name the spirit and plan of treatment. How does the gardener treat his plants? He studies their individual natures, and puts them into such circumstances of soil and atmosphere as enable them to grow, flower, and bring forth fruit,-- also to renew their manifestation year after year. [Mann, Horace, and Elizabeth P. Peabody, "Moral Culture of Infancy and Kindergarten Guide," Boston, 1863]

The first one in England was established 1850 by Johannes Ronge, German Catholic priest; in America, 1868, by Elizabeth Peabody of Boston, Mass. Taken into English untranslated, whereas other nations that borrowed the institution nativized the name (cf. Danish börnehave, Modern Hebrew gan yeladim, literally "garden of children"). Sometimes partially anglicized as kindergarden (attested by 1879).

kindergarten

noun

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Origin of kindergarten

Examples from the Web for kindergarten

kindergarten

noun

Word Origin for kindergarten

kindergarten