Kind

How to spell kind

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce kind

What does kind mean?

1. adjectiveGentle, warm, and considerate toward others.
2. nounA group of things sharing common characteristics; a type or sort.

Kind in a sentence

• adjective

  It was very kind of the neighbour to water the plants while we travelled.

• noun

  This kind of laptop holds its charge far longer than the older models.

• adjective

  The nurse spoke in a kind and reassuring voice to every patient.

• noun

  The shop sells every kind of baking tin you could need.

Where does kind come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Kind comes from the Old English noun gecynd, meaning 'nature', 'birth', or 'innate character', which is closely tied to the word cynn, the source of modern 'kin'. The underlying sense was of things sharing a common nature or family, so a 'kind' of thing was originally a group born of the same stock. From this idea of natural family feeling grew the adjective sense: to be kind was first to behave as one naturally would toward one's own kin, that is, with warmth and care. Both the noun ('a type or category') and the adjective ('considerate and warm') therefore spring from the same ancestor, which is why English keeps a single spelling for what feel like two separate words. The connection to 'kin' and even to German 'Kind' ('child') is a neat reminder that the word's oldest meaning was about birth and family.

How the word is built

• kind (from Old English cynd: nature, family, race); the two modern senses, 'type' and 'considerate', both descend from this single root idea of shared nature