What does "kid" mean?
A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.
Kid
/kɪd/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.
- Grammar: kid is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: child, youngster, babyhood, bairn.
- Useful contrasts: adult, adult goat, be serious.
- Usage evidence: I'd send my kid out on his own for a while if I were you. A few hard knocks at this point might do him some good.
How to use "kid"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "kid" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "kid" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "kid" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "kid" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "kid" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "child" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "kid", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult. countable, informal, uncountable
"She's a kid. It's normal for her to have imaginary friends."
- 2 Synonym of faggot (“bundle of heath and furze”).
"Now, for as much as this Fowle is a great deſtruction vnto the young Spawne or Frie of Fiſh, it ſhall bee good for the preſeruation thereof, to ſtake down into the bottomes of your Ponds good long Kids or Faggots of bruſh-woods, […]"
- 3 young goat wordnet
- 4 A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.; A person whose childhood took place in a particular time period or area. countable, informal, uncountable
"Only '90s kids will remember this toy."
- 5 a young person of either sex wordnet
Show 11 more definitions
- 6 A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.; One's son or daughter, regardless of age. countable, informal, uncountable
"This is Bobby, he is our youngest kid."
- 7 a human offspring (son or daughter) of any age wordnet
- 8 A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.; Used as a form of address for a child, teenager or young adult. countable, informal, uncountable
"Here's looking at you, kid."
- 9 soft smooth leather from the hide of a young goat wordnet
- 10 A child, adolescent, or (loosely) a young adult.; An inexperienced person or one in a junior position. colloquial, countable, informal, uncountable
"2007 June 3, Eben Moglen, speech, Freeing the Mind: Free Software and the end of proprietary culture, I remember as a kid lawyer working at IBM in the summer of 1983, when a large insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut, for the first time asked to buy 12000 IBM PCs in a single order."
- 11 A young goat. countable, uncountable
"He treated the oxen like they didn't exist, but he treated the goat kid like a puppy."
- 12 A young goat.; Kidskin. uncountable
"I have three pairs of kid gloves. I've had kid mittens before from the Christmas tree, but never real kid gloves with five fingers."
- 13 A young goat.; The meat of a young goat. uncountable
"So saying, he gathered together, and brought to a flame, the decaying brands which lay scattered on the ample hearth; took from the larger board a mess of pottage and seethed kid, placed it upon the small table at which he had himself supped, and without waiting the Jew's thanks, went to the other side of the hall;—[…]."
- 14 A young antelope. countable, uncountable
- 15 A deception; an act of kidding somebody. countable, dated, uncountable
- 16 A small wooden mess tub in which sailors received their food. countable, uncountable
"peaceable, well-disposed chaps as ever eat duff (dough) out of a kid"
Verb
- 1 To dupe or deceive. colloquial, participle, present, transitive, usually
"Are you kidding me?"
- 2 tell false information to for fun wordnet
- 3 To dupe or deceive.; To deceive or dupe as a joke. colloquial, participle, present, transitive, usually
"Stop kidding me! It's not funny."
- 4 be silly or tease one another wordnet
- 5 To dupe or deceive.; To deceive oneself by having unrealistic expectations. colloquial, participle, present, reflexive, transitive, usually
"You're kidding yourself if you think you can be a rockstar."
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 To mock or make a fool of (someone) in a playful way. colloquial, transitive
"They were always kidding her for her stutter."
- 7 To joke. colloquial, intransitive, participle, present, usually
"You're kidding!"
- 8 Of a goat: to give birth. intransitive
"That nanny over there with the white tail has kidded every year for the last five years."
Proper Noun
- 1 Initialism of King's Indian Defence. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Example
"I'd send my kid out on his own for a while if I were you. A few hard knocks at this point might do him some good."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "kid"?
Common synonyms include: child, youngster, babyhood, bairn, bamboozle, banter.
How do you use "kid" in a sentence?
I'd send my kid out on his own for a while if I were you. A few hard knocks at this point might do him some good.
How do you pronounce "kid"?
Pronounced /kɪd/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English kide, from Old Norse kið (“young goat”), from Proto-Germanic *kidją, *kittīną (“goatling, kid”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gʰaydn-, *ǵʰaydn- (“goat”) or Proto-Indo-European *gidʰ- (“kid, goatling, little goat”). Compare Swedish and Danish kid, German Kitz and Kitze, Albanian kedh and kec. The sense of child has been in use since the 1590s as slang, and since the 1840s in informal use.
Etymology 2
Compare Welsh cidysen.
Etymology 3
Abbreviation