kid
Pluralkids
Pluralkids
- 1A child or young person, including one who grew up in a particular time or place.
Every kid in the neighborhood showed up for the birthday party.
The college freshmen still act like kids when they get together.
UsageIn formal writing, child and children are the usual words.
Note
A farmyard word turned onto people. Dickens already uses it for a boy in 1838. C. S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew (1955) shows how it can talk down to someone: "a kid like you" places the listener firmly below adult standing.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Dickens used kid for a boy by 1838, in Oliver Twist. en.wiktionary.org
- C. S. Lewis wrote The Magician's Nephew, first published in 1955. en.wikipedia.org
- The quotation occurs in the novel; Digory addresses Polly, belittling her as a child. fadedpage.com
- 2One's son or daughter, no matter how old they are.
His kid is a grown man with children of his own.
She still worries about her kids even though they're middle-aged.
UsageOften with a possessive, even for grown children: my kids, her kid.
Similarchild
- 3To say something as a joke, or to tease, fool, or deceive someone, usually playfully.
He likes to kid around with his coworkers during breaks.
They were only kidding about moving to Alaska next year.
UsageMost often in the -ing form: just kidding, You're kidding!, No kidding!
Similarjoke, tease, fool, josh
Note
It lives almost entirely in the -ing form and in short fixed exclamations: You're kidding!, You must be kidding!, I'm only kidding!, No kidding! The first two express astonishment, and the third takes back a remark. No kidding can confirm that something is true or, in a dry tone, point out that it was obvious all along.
- 4Describing a brother or sister who is the younger one in the family relationship being mentioned.
I spent the whole summer babysitting my kid sister while our parents worked.
His kid brother followed him onto the varsity team two years later.
Note
It works only in front of the two sibling words, kid sister and kid brother, and never after a verb: nobody says my sister is kid. The sibling need not be a child, because the word marks only who is younger, so adults use it of grown brothers and sisters too. In careful writing, younger sister or younger brother is the neutral choice.
Less common meanings
- 5A young goat, or the young of an antelope or similar animal.
The farmer bottle-fed the orphaned kid through the night.
Several kids skipped around the pen this morning.
UsageSay goat kid when it could be taken to mean a child.
Note
The word's original meaning, and the one its history explains: Middle English kide, from Old Norse kið, "young goat", a cousin of German Kitz and Danish kid. Daniel Defoe in 1719 pictures a she-goat lying in the shade with two young kids beside her.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The original meaning was ‘young goat’; English kid comes through Middle English kide from Old Norse kið, meaning ‘young goat’. en.wiktionary.org
- Kid is related to German Kitz and Danish kid. en.wiktionary.org
- The Defoe work containing the passage, Robinson Crusoe, was first published in 1719. en.wikipedia.org
- Defoe describes a she-goat lying in the shade with two young kids beside her. gutenberg.org
- 6A familiar term used when addressing a child, teenager, or young adult directly.
Listen, kid, the world doesn't owe you anything.
You did great out there today, kid.
UsageUsed alone like a name, with no article: Listen, kid. From an older speaker it can sound warm or condescending.
Note
As a form of address it is informal and is used with a child, a teenager or a young adult, often as the last word of a sentence. The best-known line is "Here's looking at you, kid," spoken by Rick in Casablanca (1942).
- 7Someone who is inexperienced or holds a junior position.
He's still the kid in the firm, even after two years.
The veterans showed the kids how things really worked on the floor.
UsageUsed in the new kid. It can also come before another noun: a kid lawyer.
Similaryoungster
Oppositeveteran
Note
In a speech, Eben Moglen remembers himself "as a kid lawyer working at IBM in the summer of 1983." Used this way it measures rank and experience rather than age: a kid lawyer is a new lawyer, not a child, and the phrase is usually self-mocking.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Eben Moglen recalls in a speech being a "kid lawyer working at IBM in the summer of 1983." en.wiktionary.org
- 8To deceive oneself into believing something untrue or unrealistic; used reflexively.
She kidded herself into thinking the relationship could still be saved.
Don't kid yourself that the problem will fix itself.
UsageKid yourself with if, that or into + -ing. Don't kid yourself tells someone to face facts.
- 9The flesh of a young goat used as food.
The chef braised kid with garlic and rosemary.
Tender kid is a traditional dish in parts of the Mediterranean.
UsageUsed like lamb or veal, with no a: roast kid, braised kid.
Similarcabrito
Note
Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (1819) sets out "a mess of pottage and seethed kid," that is, boiled kid. Cabrito names the same meat and often appears on menus in place of the plainer English word.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Walter Scott wrote Ivanhoe, whose narration contains the quoted phrase. gutenberg.org
- Ivanhoe was first published in 1819, although its first-edition title page bears the date 1820. en.wikipedia.org
- Seethed kid means boiled kid. en.wiktionary.org
- Cabrito also names the meat of a young goat. en.wiktionary.org
- 10Fine, soft leather made from the skin of a young goat.
The dancer's slippers were cut from supple kid.
He pulled on a pair of kid gloves before the ceremony.
UsageMost often before a noun: kid gloves, kid leather. Things are made of kid.
Note
To handle or treat someone with kid gloves is to deal with them very gently and carefully. In Jean Webster's Daddy-Long-Legs (1912), a girl prizes "real kid gloves with five fingers," which shows the leather's old association with fine glovemaking.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Jean Webster wrote Daddy-Long-Legs, first published in 1912. en.wikisource.org
- The girl, Jerusha Abbott, also called Judy, uses these exact words about gloves she values. en.wikisource.org
- The passage illustrates kid leather's historical association with desirable gloves. en.wikisource.org
- 11To give birth, as a female goat does.
Most of the does kid in early spring when the grass returns.
The young goat kidded for the first time without any trouble.
UsageNo object: the goats kid in spring. Double the d: kidded, kidding.
Note
A farmyard verb in the same family as lamb, foal and calve, each naming birth for particular animals. In Monte Dwyer's 2008 book Red in the Centre, a speaker notes that goats can kid twice a year when conditions are right, often producing twins or triplets.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Monte Dwyer wrote Red in the Centre. en.wikipedia.org
- A speaker in the book says goats can kid twice yearly under suitable conditions and often produce twins or triplets. en.wiktionary.org
- 12A playful deception; the act of fooling or teasing someone.
UsageToday joke or hoax is the usual noun; the verb lives on in no kidding.
Note
This noun names a single act of kidding: a trick, or a bit of teasing meant to fool someone for fun. It is now dated. The noun has faded while the verb meaning "to joke" has thrived, so the same idea is now usually expressed with the verb.
- 13A small wooden mess tub from which sailors received their food aboard ship.
- 14Synonym of faggot: a bundle of heath and gorse tied together for fuel.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of kid apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
Old Norse kið ("young goat") passed into Middle English as kide. The Norse word goes back to Proto-Germanic *kidją and perhaps, further back, to a Proto-Indo-European root for "goat". Swedish and Danish kid and German Kitz are related. People have used it to mean "child" as slang since at least the 1600s and in informal speech since the 1840s.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- Middle English kide was borrowed from Old Norse kið, meaning ‘young goat’. en.wiktionary.org
- Old Norse kið derives from reconstructed Proto-Germanic *kidją. en.wiktionary.org
- A Proto-Indo-European root meaning ‘goat’ is a proposed further origin. en.wiktionary.org
- Swedish kid, Danish kid and German Kitz are related to English kid. en.wiktionary.org
- The slang meaning ‘child’ existed by the 1600s. en.wiktionary.org
- The meaning ‘child’ has been in informal use since the 1840s. en.wiktionary.org