kidney
Syllables: kid·ney/ˈkɪdni/
kidney noun: an organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine.
Noun
kidney (plural kidneys)
- An organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine.
- The liver and the kidneys of animals have long been gastronomically popular for their aphrodisiac properties.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 124
- An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly)
- This organ (of an animal) cooked as food.
- Constitution, temperament, nature, type, character, disposition. (usually used of people)
- […] think of that, – a man of my kidney, – think of that, […]c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Millions in the World of this Man's Kidney1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC
- A waiter.
- I once more desire my readers to consider that as I cannot keep an ingenious man to go daily to Will's under twopence each day merely for his charges, to White's under sixpence, nor to the Grecian without allowing him some plain Spanish, to be as able as others at the learned table; and that a good...1709, Richard Steele, The Tatler, volume 1
Proper noun capitalized: Kidney
Kidney (plural Kidneys)
- A surname from Irish.
kidney meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
kidney in Hindi
- an organ in the body
- गुर्दा gurdā
kidney in Tamil
- an organ in the body
- சிறுநீரகம் ciṟunīrakam, குண்டிக்காய் kuṇṭikkāy
- food
- குண்டிக்காய் kuṇṭikkāy
kidney in Marathi
- an organ in the body
- गुडदा guḍdā
kidney in Urdu
- an organ in the body
- گُرْدَہ gurda
More languagesFewer languages
- kidney in Bengali
- কিডনি kiḍni, বৃক্ক brikko, অন্ত্র ontro
- kidney in Telugu
- మూత్రపిండము mūtrapiṇḍamu
- kidney in Malayalam
- വൃക്ക vr̥kka, തുനി tuni
- kidney in Kannada
- ಮೂತ್ರಪಿಂಡ mūtrapiṇḍa
- kidney in Punjabi
- ਗੁਰਦਾ gurdā
- kidney in Gujarati
- મુત્રપિંડ mutrapiṇḍ
- kidney in Odia
- ମୂତ୍ରାଶୟ mutrāśaya, ବୃକ୍କକ brukkaka
- kidney in Sanskrit
- वृक्क vṛkka
- kidney in Sinhala
- වකුගඩුව wakugaḍuwa
- kidney in Assamese
- বৃক্ক brikko
- kidney in Nepali
- मिर्गौलो mirgaulo
- kidney in Pashto
- پوښتورګى pux̌tawᶕrgay, بدوری badǔray
- kidney in Tagalog
- bato
- kidney in Arabic
- كُلْيَة kulya
- kidney in Malay
- ginjal, kerinjal, buah pinggang
- kidney in Indonesian
- ginjal
- kidney in Thai
- ไต dtai, วักกะ wák-gà, เซ่งจี๊, เซี่ยงจี๊
- kidney in Vietnamese
- thận, cật
- kidney in Myanmar
- ကျောက်ကပ် kyaukkap
- Dhivehi
- ގުރުދާ gurudā
Examples of kidney in a sentence
- The family had steak and kidney pie for dinner and cherry pie for dessert.
- I'll see your defective gallbladder and raise you one heart murmur and a kidney stone.
- Renal cell cancer is the most common form of kidney cancer.
Synonyms of kidney
Forms of kidney
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | kidneys |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Kidneys |
Origin of kidney
From Middle English kideney, kydeney, alteration of earlier kidenere (“kidney”) after ey (“egg”), of obscure origin and formation. Probably a compound consisting of Middle English *kidde (“sack”) + Middle English nere (“kidney”). The first element would be from Old English *cydde (“sack, scrotum”), from Proto-Germanic *kuddijā (“sack”), as the terms for testicle and kidney were often interchangeable in Germanic (compare Old High German nioro (“kidney", also "testicle”), Old Swedish vig-niauri (“testicle”)); the second is from Old English *nēora or Middle Low German nêre (“kidney”), from Proto-West Germanic *neurō, from Proto-Germanic *neurô (“kidney”), from Proto-Indo-European *negʷʰr- (“kidney”). If so, then related to dialectal English near (“kidney”), Scots neir (“kidney”), Saterland Frisian Njuure (“kidney”), West Frisian nier (“kidney”), Dutch nier (“kidney”), German Niere (“kidney”), Danish nyre (“kidney”), Norwegian nyre (“kidney”), Swedish njure (“kidney”), Ancient Greek νεφρός (nephrós, “kidney”). An alternate etymology traces the first element to Old English cwiþ, cwiþa (“belly, womb, stomach”), though the loss of /w/ in a stressed syllable is difficult to explain.
From a mistranslation of Irish Ó Dubháin (“descendant of Dubhán”) (directly rendered in English as Duane), a personal name from a diminutive of dubh (“black”). This was confused with dubhán (“kidney”), which in fact is a derivative of dubh (“black”).
Words formed from kidney
- acute kidney failure
- acute kidney injury
- antikidney
- artificial kidney
- fat-kidneyed
- floating kidney
- forekidney
- head kidney
- kidney bean
- kidney belt
- kidney cancer
- kidney corpuscle
- kidney dagger
- kidney disease
- kidney dish
- kidneyed
- kidney gravel
- kidneyless
- kidneylike
- kidney machine
- kidney ore
- kidney potato
- kidney punch
- kidney-punch
- kidney-shaped
- kidneyshell
- kidney stone
- kidney vetch
- kidneywood
- kidneywort
- monokidney
- pseudokidney
- pulpy kidney
- sea kidney
- skirts and kidneys
- steak and kidney pie
- xenokidney
Phrases with kidney
- kidney ores
- kidney beans
- kidney belts
- kidney dishes
- kidney stones
- kidney daggers
- kidney gravels
- kidney punched
- kidney punches
- kidney vetches
- kidney diseases
- kidney machines
6 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with kidney
Questions about kidney
- What does kidney mean?
- Kidney means an organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine.
- What is kidney in Hindi?
- Kidney in Hindi is गुर्दा (gurdā). See Kidney meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is kidney?
- Kidney can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce kidney?
- Kidney is pronounced /ˈkɪdni/.
- What is the plural of kidney?
- The plural of kidney is kidneys.
Words near kidney in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kidney (page history and authors); Kidney (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-kidney.ogg.
Cite this entry: “kidney.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kidney. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.