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:
That fall, as the school year began anew, her incoming kindergarten class had eight Hispanic students.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026
Shemrai found it difficult to secure kindergarten places in Ivano-Frankivsk for her children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026
Escobar, who has spent most of her 41-year teaching career in kindergarten, said she immediately sees the difference.
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
“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
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
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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.
