kind

KYND/kaɪnd/

Pluralkinds

Adjectivekinder, kindest

14 meanings of kind

Practice

1
typenouncountable
A type or category of things that share common features and can be grouped together.
He's the kind of person who remembers everyone's name.
Botanists classify many different kinds of flowering plants.
UsageFollowed by of, sometimes with a: what kind of music, what kind of a person, many kinds of plants.
Similartype, sort, variety, category, class
Note
The everyday sorting word, and the oldest story in the noun: Old English cynd meant nature, gender, generation and race. Spenser could already write of love's 'variable kinds' in 1590.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
The noun derives from Old English cynd, whose meanings included nature, gender, generation and race. en.wiktionary.org
Edmund Spenser used the phrase 'variable kinds' about love in The Faerie Queene. gutenberg.org
The relevant portion of The Faerie Queene was first published in 1590. gla.ac.uk
2
caringadjective
Having or showing a gentle, caring nature through consideration, generosity, helpfulness, or affection.
The nurse remained kind and patient even during the busiest shifts.
Strangers can be surprisingly kind when you need help the most.
UsageSay kind to someone, and it was kind of you to + verb: kind of him to help.
Similarcaring, gentle, considerate, generous, thoughtful
Oppositeunkind, cruel, harsh, mean
Note
The adjective is a separate Old English word, cynde, 'innate, natural, native', built on the noun cynd. Its first meaning survives only in the obsolete 'natural' sense; the warm-hearted meaning is the one that lasted. Shakespeare already pairs it with pity: 'Nothing so kind but something pitiful.'
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
The adjective descends from Old English cynde, also ġecynde, meaning innate, natural or native. en.wiktionary.org
Old English cynde was formed from the noun cynd. en.wiktionary.org
The adjective's historical natural/native meaning is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
Shakespeare uses the quoted line in Titus Andronicus, Act 2, scene 3; Lavinia speaks it to Tamora. folgerdigitaltexts.org
3
makeshiftnouncountable
A makeshift or atypical example of something: a rough approximation rather than the true article.
They strung up a kind of tent using branches and a tarp.
He cobbled together a kind of desk from crates and a plank.
Usagea kind of + noun, for something not quite the real thing: a kind of tent.
Similarsort
Note
Here the word hedges. A kind of window is an opening doing a window's work without quite being one. The pattern is a kind of plus a noun, and Mark Twain in 1884 doubles the article: 'a kind of a tent out of my blankets'. Compare the sorting sense: a strange kind of tobacco is still tobacco, but a kind of tent is not quite a tent.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
The quotation appears in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, first published in 1884. exhibitions.library.vanderbilt.edu
The quoted wording is exact and contains two indefinite articles. It occurs in Huck’s narration in chapter VIII of Twain’s novel. gutenberg.org
4
goods as paymentnoununcountable
Goods or services given as payment, as in barter, rather than money.
Tenants once paid their rent in kind, handing over a share of the harvest.
The charity gladly accepts donations in kind, such as food and clothing.
UsageAlmost always in the phrase in kind: paid in kind, donations in kind.
Oppositecash
Note
Payment in goods or labor rather than money lives almost entirely in the phrase in kind: rent paid in kind, a donation in kind. The same phrase also carries the tit-for-tat meaning. So 'paid in kind' can mean settled with a share of the harvest, or answered blow for blow. Only the context tells you which.
5
variety (food)nounCaribbeancountablein compounds
Food considered as belonging to a particular category or group.
She stopped eating meat kind after her doctor warned her about her pressure.
On Good Friday the family ate only fish kind, never any meat.
UsageGoes after a food noun, usually with no article: fish kind, no meat kind.
Similartype, sort, variety
Note
Caribbean English puts kind after a food noun to name a whole category: fish kind, meat kind. Jamaican writers such as Easton Lee use it without an article, like a mass noun. 'Fish kind was what she ate then' means fish of any sort. Likewise, 'no meat kind' means no meat of any description. Standard English would say 'some sort of meat' instead.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
Easton Lee is a Jamaican writer. nlj.gov.jm
Easton Lee uses the articleless expression “fish kind”; the quoted sentence reproduces his wording. en.wiktionary.org
There was no meat kind in the house that week, only ground provisions.
She served the dumplings with some fish kind on the side.

Less common meanings

6
like for likenoununcountable
An equivalent response that matches another person's action, returned in the same manner.
The country warned that it would respond in kind if the tariffs took effect.
She met his sarcasm in kind.
UsageIn set phrases with in kind: respond in kind, answer in kind, repay in kind.
7
mildadjective
Of a thing or circumstance, gentle in its effect or treating someone well rather than harshly.
The new shampoo is kind to color-treated hair.
Low, kind lighting in the restaurant made the faded wallpaper look almost new.
UsageOften kind to skin, hair or the environment: kind to dry skin.
Similargentle, soft, mild
Oppositeharsh
8
easy to handleadjective
Gentle and easily managed or controlled; tractable.
The mare proved kind under saddle, responding calmly to every command.
He bred dogs that were kind and easily handled.
UsageSaid of animals, especially horses: kind in harness, kind under saddle.
Similardocile, tractable, gentle, manageable, biddable
Oppositeunruly, fractious, intractable
Note
Said of animals, kind means willing to be handled: a horse kind in harness pulls steadily and gives no trouble. It often follows the noun, with in or under naming the work, as in kind in harness or kind under saddle. That phrasing separates it from the warm-hearted sense. A kind horse is cooperative, not benevolent.
9
true naturenounarchaic
One's inherent nature; natural character or disposition.
The generall woorde, is spoken of many, that differ either in kynd, or els in nombre.
1551, Thomas Wilson, The rule of reason
Must yt nedes folowe that theyr fayth was chaunged in kynde, bycause yt was augmented in degrees.
1533, Thomas More, The second parte of the confutacion of Tyndals answere in whyche is also confuted the chyrche that Tyndale deuyseth
Note
Archaic on its own, this meaning survives intact in one pairing: differing in kind rather than in degree. Thomas More set the two words against each other in 1533, and Robert Boyle did the same in 1665. D. DeGrazia's Animal Rights (2002) still reports the argument that animals' and humans' capacities differ largely 'in degree and not in kind'. To differ in kind is to differ in nature, not merely in amount. Outside that phrase, kind for 'character' reads as deliberately old.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
Thomas More contrasted kind with degree in 1533. en.wiktionary.org
The relevant second part of More's Confutation was published in 1533. quod.lib.umich.edu
Robert Boyle contrasted kind with degree in 1665. en.wiktionary.org
Boyle's Occasional Reflections was first published in 1665. openbook.lib.utah.edu
David DeGrazia wrote Animal Rights, published in 2002. philosophy.columbian.gwu.edu
The cited passage reports an argument that animals' and humans' capacities differ largely in degree and not in kind; it does not ask this question. en.wiktionary.org
10
family linenounarchaic
One's family, ancestry, or lineage.
My young love said to me, My mother won’t mind And my father won’t slight you for your lack of kind.
"She Moved through the Fair" (traditional Irish folk song)
Note
Lineage in the old sense of family standing. In some versions of the Irish song 'She Moved through the Fair' (others sing kine, cattle), a father who 'won't slight you for your lack of kind' is overlooking the suitor's want of family, not any want of kindness. The noun shares its root with kin, as the everyday sorting word does. In modern prose it would almost certainly be misread, so it belongs to song and period style.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
Kind has an archaic sense meaning family or lineage. en.wiktionary.org
She Moved Through the Fair is an Irish song with multiple versions. en.wikipedia.org
The quoted wording occurs in the song; the young woman says that her father will not slight her suitor. en.wiktionary.org
Other versions use kine in place of kind. en.wikipedia.org
Kine means cattle. en.wiktionary.org
Kind in this lyric refers to family or lineage rather than kindness. en.wiktionary.org
The lineage and category senses of the noun kind share an etymology related to kin. en.wiktionary.org
11
mannernounarchaic
A way, manner, or fashion of doing something.
Note
Where older English uses kind to mean manner, read it as way or fashion rather than as a category. Modern English has handed this job entirely to manner and way. Using it today, as in 'after a kind', signals deliberate period style rather than a natural choice. It is safest kept for imitation of older writing.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
Kind historically had the meaning ‘manner’. en.wiktionary.org
12
adjectiveobsolete
Natural or native; belonging by nature to a thing or to its species.
it becommeth sweeter than it should be, and loseth the kind tast.
1601, Pliny the Elder, The Historie of the World
Note
Obsolete now, and easy to misread through the generous meaning. When the 1601 English translation of Pliny the Elder says something 'loseth the kind tast', it means the thing has lost its natural taste, not a pleasant one. In older texts, read kind here as proper to the thing's own nature, the native quality something has before anything alters it.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
The English translation of Pliny the Elder referenced here was first published in 1601. collections.soane.org
The quotation ‘loseth the kind tast’ is attributed to Holland’s translation of Pliny. en.wiktionary.org
The historical adjective kind means natural or native in this quotation. en.wiktionary.org
13
noun
In type theory, the type of a type constructor or higher-order type operator: a classification of types themselves.
14
noun
Either of the two elements of the communion service, the bread or the wine.

More uses

kind ofsomewhat, or a little

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of kind apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1, 3–6, 9–11

From Middle English kynde, from Old English cynd, ġecynd ("inherent nature, disposition, kind, race, generation"), from Proto-West Germanic *kundi and Proto-Germanic *kinþiz, related to words for race and kin and to Old English cennan ("to bear, give birth"). It has cognates in Old High German and Icelandic, and is a doublet of gens, genesis, and jati.

Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

Kind descends through Middle English kynde from Old English cynd and ġecynd. en.wiktionary.org
The Old English words had the stated meanings. en.wiktionary.org
The ancestry includes Proto-West Germanic *kundi and Proto-Germanic *kinþiz. en.wiktionary.org
Kind is related to words meaning race and kin. en.wiktionary.org
Kind is related to Old English cennan, meaning to bear or give birth. en.wiktionary.org
Kind has Old High German and Icelandic cognates. en.wiktionary.org
Kind is a doublet of gens, genesis, and jati. en.wiktionary.org

Meanings 2, 7–8, 12

Old English had the noun cynd or ġecynd ("nature, kind"), and from it came the adjective cynde or ġecynde ("innate, natural, native"). That adjective became Middle English kynde, the source of the modern word.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

Old English had the noun cynd meaning nature or kind. en.wiktionary.org
Old English also had the noun ġecynd meaning nature or kind. en.wiktionary.org
The adjective cynde or ġecynde derived from the noun and meant innate, natural or native; it passed through Middle English kynde to modern kind. en.wiktionary.org