kid

/kɪd/
/kɪd/
IPA guide

Other forms: kids; kidding; kidded

If a farmer offers to introduce you to her kid, you might not know if she means her child or her baby goat.

A kid is a child, informally, and it's also a young goat. Sometimes the word kid means a kind of soft leather made from goat skin. When kid is used as a verb, it means to tease or jokingly deceive someone — to kid them. Some sticklers for formality object to using kid to mean "child," but that meaning has been around since the 1590s. The "teasing" definition of kid comes from the sense of "treat like a child."

Definitions of kid
  1. noun
    young goat
    see moresee less
    type of:
    caprine animal, goat
    any of numerous agile ruminants related to sheep but having a beard and straight horns
  2. noun
    soft smooth leather from the hide of a young goat
    “kid gloves”
    synonyms: kidskin
    see moresee less
    type of:
    leather
    an animal skin made smooth and flexible by removing the hair and then tanning
  3. noun
    a young person of either sex
    “they're just kids”
    synonyms: child, fry, minor, nestling, nipper, shaver, small fry, tiddler, tike, tyke, youngster
    see moresee less
    types:
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    bairn
    a child: son or daughter
    buster
    a robust child
    changeling
    a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy
    child prodigy, infant prodigy, wonder child, wunderkind
    a prodigy whose talents are recognized at an early age
    foster child, foster-child, fosterling
    a child who is raised by foster parents
    imp, monkey, rapscallion, rascal, scalawag, scallywag, scamp
    one who is playfully mischievous
    kiddy
    a young child
    orphan
    a child who has lost both parents
    peanut
    a young child who is small for his age
    poster child
    a child afflicted by some disease or deformity whose picture is used on posters to raise money for charitable purposes
    kindergartener, kindergartner, preschooler
    a child who attends a preschool or kindergarten
    silly
    a word used for misbehaving children
    sprog
    a child
    bambino, toddler, tot, yearling
    a young child
    urchin
    a poor and often mischievous city child
    street child, waif
    a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned
    foster daughter, foster-daughter
    someone who is raised as a daughter although not related by birth
    foster son, foster-son
    someone who is raised as a son although not related by birth
    poster boy
    a male poster child
    poster girl
    a female poster child
    ragamuffin, tatterdemalion
    a dirty shabbily clothed urchin
    guttersnipe, street urchin
    a child who spends most of his time in the streets, especially in slum areas
    brat, holy terror, little terror, terror
    a very troublesome child
    type of:
    juvenile, juvenile person
    a young person, not fully developed
  4. noun
    a human offspring (son or daughter) of any age
    “they were able to send their kids to college”
    synonyms: child
    see moresee less
    types:
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    army brat
    the child of a career officer of the United States Army
    babe, baby, infant
    a very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk
    female offspring
    a child who is female
    male offspring, man-child
    a child who is male
    stepchild
    a child of your spouse by a former marriage
    blue baby
    an infant born with a bluish color; usually has a defective heart
    cherub
    a sweet innocent baby
    daughter, girl
    a female human offspring
    abandoned infant, foundling
    a child who has been abandoned and whose parents are unknown
    godchild
    an infant who is sponsored by an adult (the godparent) at baptism
    neonate, newborn, newborn baby, newborn infant
    a baby from birth to four weeks
    nurseling, nursling, suckling
    an infant considered in relation to its nurse
    papoose, pappoose
    an American Indian infant
    boy, son
    a male human offspring
    stepdaughter
    a daughter of your spouse by a former marriage
    stepson
    the son your spouse by a former marriage
    test-tube baby
    a baby conceived by fertilization that occurs outside the mother's body; the woman's ova are removed and mixed with sperm in a culture medium - if fertilization occurs the blastocyte is implanted in the woman's uterus
    war baby
    conceived or born during war
    type of:
    issue, offspring, progeny
    the immediate descendants of a person
  5. verb
    tell false information to for fun
    synonyms: pull the leg of
    see moresee less
    type of:
    befool, cod, dupe, fool, gull, put on, put one across, put one over, slang, take in
    fool or hoax
  6. verb
    be silly or tease one another
    “After we relaxed, we just kidded around”
    synonyms: banter, chaff, jolly, josh
    see moresee less
    type of:
    bait, cod, rag, rally, razz, ride, tantalise, tantalize, taunt, tease, twit
    harass with persistent criticism or carping
Pronunciation
US
/kɪd/
UK
/kɪd/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘kid'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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