kind
pronunciation
How to pronounce kind in British English:
UK [kaɪnd]
How to pronounce kind in American English:
US [kaɪnd]
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- Noun:
- a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality
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- Adjective:
- having or showing a tender and considerate and helpful nature; used especially of persons and their behavior
- liberal
- conducive to comfort; beneficial
- expressing sympathy
- characterized by mercy, and compassion
- agreeable
- helpful to other people
- tolerant and forgiving under provocation
- showing consideration and anticipation of needs
- generously responsive
Word Origin
- kind
- kind: [OE] Kind the noun and kind the adjective are ultimately the same word, but they split apart in pre-historic times. Their common source was Germanic *kunjam, the ancestor of English kin. From it, using the collective prefix *ga- and the abstract suffix *-diz, was derived the noun *gakundiz, which passed into Old English as gecynde ‘birth, origin, nature, race’.The prefix ge- disappeared in the early Middle English period. Germanic *gakundiz formed the basis of an adjective, *gakundjaz, which in Old English converged with its source to produce gecynde. It meant ‘natural, innate’, but gradually progressed via ‘of noble birth’ and ‘well-disposed by nature’ to (in the 14th century) ‘benign, compassionate’ (a semantic development remarkably similar to that of the distantly related gentle).=> kin
- kind (n.)
- "class, sort, variety," from Old English gecynd "kind, nature, race," related to cynn "family" (see kin), from Proto-Germanic *kundjaz "family, race," from PIE *gene- "to give birth, beget" (see genus). Ælfric's rendition of "the Book of Genesis" into Old English came out gecyndboc. The prefix disappeared 1150-1250. No exact cognates beyond English, but it corresponds to adjective endings such as Goth -kunds, Old High German -kund. Also in English as a suffix (mankind, etc.). Other earlier, now obsolete, senses in English included "character, quality derived from birth" and "manner or way natural or proper to anyone." Use in phrase a kind of (1590s) led to colloquial extension as adverb (1804) in phrases such as kind of stupid ("a kind of stupid (person)").
- kind (adj.)
- "friendly, deliberately doing good to others," from Old English gecynde "natural, native, innate," originally "with the feeling of relatives for each other," from Proto-Germanic *kundi- "natural, native," from *kunjam "family" (see kin), with collective prefix *ga- and abstract suffix *-iz. Sense development from "with natural feelings," to "well-disposed" (c. 1300), "benign, compassionate" (c. 1300).
Synonym
Antonym
Example
- 1. What kind of person will you be ?
- 2. What kind of e-reader are you ?
- 3. What kind of work can I do inamerica ?
- 4. But these are different kind of cells entirely .
- 5. The annual green car rally is the biggest of its kind in the world .