Kiddo

How to spell kiddo

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce kiddo

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does kiddo mean?

1. nounAn affectionate or familiar term for a child or a younger person.

Kiddo in a sentence

• The coach gave each kiddo a high five after the match.

• Her favourite kiddo at the daycare always saved her a seat.

Where does kiddo come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

The base 'kid' began as a word for a young goat, borrowed into Middle English around the 1200s from Old Norse 'kið', which meant exactly that: a baby goat. By the late 1500s English speakers had stretched it humorously to mean a human child, and over the following centuries that playful sense became the everyday word for a youngster. The form 'kiddo' adds the familiar suffix '-o', the same friendly ending found in words like 'daddy-o' and 'weirdo', and it took hold in American English in the early twentieth century as a warm, slightly teasing way to address someone. The spelling trap is simply the doubled 'd', a leftover of keeping the short vowel in 'kid' before the suffix. Because it grew out of casual speech rather than formal writing, 'kiddo' has stayed resolutely informal.

How the word is built

• kid (child, young person)
• -o (familiar/affectionate suffix)