kind

• enPR: kīnd, IPA^(key): /kaɪnd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪnd

From Middle English kynde, kunde, cunde, icunde, from Old English cynd, ġecynd (“inherent nature, disposition, kind, gender, generation, race”), from Proto-West Germanic *kundi, from Proto-Germanic *kinþiz, related to Proto-Germanic *kunją (“race, kin”) and Old English cennan (“to bear, give birth”).

Cognate with Old High German gikunt (“nature, kind”), Icelandic kind (“race, species, kind”). Doublet of gens, genesis, and jati. See also kin.

• kinde, kynd, kynde (obsolete)

kind (plural kinds)

1. A type, race or category; a group of entities that have common characteristics such that they may be grouped together.

   What kind of (a) person are you?

   This is a strange kind of tobacco.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 1:

     How diversely Love doth his pageants play, / And shews his powre in variable kinds !

   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     “ […] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
       Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […] ”

   • 2022, James Dominic Rooney, Material Objects in Confucian and Aristotelian Metaphysics, page 166:

     That in virtue of which all of his material parts are of the same kind human being is what makes those parts belong to Hook, but Hook is neither identical with his kind (the essence of human being), nor is Hook merely that which makes him a member of the kind or all his parts human (his soul).

2. A makeshift or otherwise atypical specimen.

   The opening served as a kind of window.

   • 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VIII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:

     I got my traps out of the canoe and made me a nice camp in the thick woods. I made a kind of a tent out of my blankets to put my things under so the rain couldn't get at them.

3. (archaic) One's inherent nature; character, natural disposition.
   • 1533, Thomas More, The second parte of the confutacion of Tyndals answere in whyche is also confuted the chyrche that Tyndale deuyseth:

     Must yt nedes folowe that theyr fayth was chaunged in kynde, bycause yt was augmented in degrees.

   • 1551, Thomas Wilson, The rule of reason, conteinyng the arte of logique:

     The generall woorde, is spoken of many, that differ either in kynd, or els in nombre.

   • 1665, Robert Boyle, Occasional Reflections upon Several Subjects. Whereto is premis'd a Discourse about such kind of thoughts:

     'Tis all one..whether our Afflictions be the same with those of others, in Kind, or not Superiour to them in Degree.

   • 2002, D. DeGrazia, Animal Rights:

     He also argued powerfully, if less influentially, that animals' and humans' capacities differ largely in degree and not in kind.

4. (archaic) Family, lineage.
   • "She Moved through the Fair" (traditional Irish folk song)

     My young love said to me, My mother won’t mind
     And my father won’t slight you for your lack of kind.

5. (archaic) Manner.
7. Goods or services used as payment, as e.g. in barter.
   • 1691, John Dryden, Prologue to King Arthur:

     Some of you, on pure instinct of nature, / Are led by kind t'admire your fellow-creature.

8. Equivalent means used as response to an action.

   I'll pay in kind for his insult.

9. (Christianity) Each of the two elements of the communion service, bread and wine.
10. (type theory) The type of a type constructor or a higher-order type operator.

    The kind of any primitive data type is *, corresponding to a nullary constructor.

11. (Caribbean, in compounds) Food in a particular category.
    • 1998, Easton Lee, From Behind the Counter: Poems from a Rural Jamaican Experience:

      Fish kind was what she ate then.

    • 2005 January 1, Michaeline A. Crichlow, Negotiating Caribbean Freedom: Peasants and the State in Development, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 116:

      The farmers had plenty of ground provisions, but there was no "meat kind."

    • 2013 06, Wellesley Gayle, The Jamaica Insider Guide, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 30:

      They can be served with fried fish, chicken, ackee and salt fish or other meat kind, as well as eaten separately as a treat.

• In the sense of “goods or services” or “equivalent means”, used almost exclusively with “in”, i.e., the expression in kind.

• genre
• sort
• type
• derivative

(1) and/or (2)

• generation
• offspring
• child
• See also Thesaurus:class

From Middle English kinde, kunde, kende, from Old English cynde, ġecynde (“innate, natural, native”), from Old English cynd, ġecynd (“nature, kind”).

• kinde (obsolete)

kind (comparative kinder, superlative kindest)

1. Having a benevolent, courteous, friendly, generous, gentle, liberal, sympathetic, or warm-hearted nature or disposition, marked by consideration for – and service to – others.
   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], signature D3, verso:

     Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The vvhilſt their ovvne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittifull.

2. Affectionate.

   a kind man; a kind heart

   • 1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC:

     Yet was he kind, or if severe in aught, / The love he bore to learning was in fault.

3. Favorable.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:

     Thy words aſſure me of kind ſucceſſe: / Go valiant Souldier, go before and charge / The fainting army of that foolish King.

4. Mild, gentle, forgiving

   The years have been kind to Richard Gere; he ages well.

5. Gentle; tractable; easily governed.

   a horse kind in harness

6. (obsolete) Characteristic of the species; belonging to one's nature; natural; native.
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:

     it becommeth sweeter than it should be, and loseth the kind tast.

• See also Thesaurus:affectionate

• Kind in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• DINK, dink

From Dutch kind, from Middle Dutch kint, from Old Dutch kint, from Proto-Germanic *kindą (“offspring”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁tóm.

• IPA^(key): /kənt/

• Audio:

  (file)

kind (plural kinders)

1. child

• dink

From Old Norse kinn, from Proto-Germanic *kinnuz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénu- (“cheek”). Compare Swedish kind, Norwegian and Icelandic kinn, Low German and German Kinn, Dutch kin, English chin.

• IPA^(key): /ken/, [kʰenˀ]

kind c (singular definite kinden, plural indefinite kinder)

1. cheek

From Middle Dutch kint, from Old Dutch kint, from Proto-West Germanic *kind (“offspring”), from Proto-Germanic *kindą (“offspring”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁tóm (“that which is produced, that which is given birth to”), related to *ǵn̥h₁tós (“produced, given birth”), from *ǵenh₁- (“to produce, to give birth”).

• IPA^(key): /kɪnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: kind
• Rhymes: -ɪnt

kind n (plural kinderen or kinders, diminutive kindje n or kindertje n or kindeken n or kindelijn n)

1. child, kid, non-adult human

   Synonyms: koter, (dated) wicht

   Hij heeft als kind leren schaatsen. ― He learned how to ice-skate as a child.

2. first-degree descendant, still a minor or irrespective of age

   Synonyms: afstammeling, nakomeling, telg

   Mijn kinderen zijn intussen allemaal volwassen. ― My children are all adults by now.

3. (figuratively) product of influence, breeding etc.

   Deze kunstwerken zijn een kind van de moderne kunstbeweging. ― These artworks are a product of the modern art movement.

• The normal plural is kinderen (a double plural combining the endings -er (archaic) and -en, also found in a few other neuter nouns). The form kinders is heard colloquially, often also humorously.
• In compounds, the word can take the form kinder- or kind- as a tail. The former is used more often, however.
• The diminutive kindelijn is now archaic, but can still be found in some fossilized songs and religious texts.

• Afrikaans: kind
• Jersey Dutch: känt
• Negerhollands: kind, kint, kin, ken
• Skepi Creole Dutch: kente, kinte

• dochter
• zoon
• blaag

From Old Norse kind, from Proto-Germanic *kinþiz, cognate with Latin gēns (“clan, tribe”). The sense of “sheep” is derived from the compound sauðkind, literally “sheep-kind”.

• IPA^(key): /cʰɪnt/
• Rhymes: -ɪnt

kind f (genitive singular kindar, nominative plural kindur or (in the meaning "race, kind, kin") kindir)

1. (obsolete) race, kind, kin
2. a sheep (especially a ewe)

   Synonyms: rolla, sauðkind

3. (dated) used as a term of disparagement for a girl (or woman)

• kindarlegur
• mannkind
• sauðkind

From Old Norse kind f, from Proto-Germanic *kinþiz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis. Akin to English kind.

kind m (definite singular kinden, indefinite plural kindar, definite plural kindane)
kind n (definite singular kindet, indefinite plural kind, definite plural kinda)

1. a child in a cradle

• “kind” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Proto-Germanic *kinþiz. Compare Latin gēns (“clan, tribe”).

kind f (genitive kindar, plural kindir or kindr)

1. race, kind, kin
2. creature, being

• mannkind
• sauðkind

• Icelandic: kind f (“sheep”)
• Faroese: kind

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “kind”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive

From Proto-West Germanic *kind (“child”), from Proto-Germanic *kindą, *kinþą, from Pre-Germanic *ǵénh₁tom, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to bear, give birth”).

kind n

1. child

• Middle Low German: kint
  • Low German: Kind
    • Dutch Low Saxon: kind, kiend, keend
    • German Low German: Kind
  • → Old Frisian: kind
    • West Frisian: kyn

From Old Norse kinn, from Proto-Germanic *kinnuz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénu- (“cheek”). Compare Danish kind, Norwegian and Icelandic kinn, German Kinn, Dutch kin, English chin.

• IPA^(key): /ɕɪnd/

• Audio:

  (file)

kind c

1. (anatomy) cheek; a part of the face.

False friend with chin, see haka.

• vända andra kinden till (“turn the other cheek”)

• kind in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• kind in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• kind in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Svensk MeSH

From Middle Dutch kint.

kind n (plural kinders)

1. child