kind

/kaɪnd/

kind noun: a type, race or category; a group of entities that have common characteristics such that they may be grouped together.

Noun

kind (plural kinds)

A type, race or category; a group of entities that have common characteristics such that they may be grouped together.
- What kind of (a) person are you?
- What kind of ice-cream would you like? There's chocolate, strawberry, and lemon.
A makeshift or otherwise atypical specimen.
- The opening served as a kind of window.
- I got my traps out of the canoe and made me a nice camp in the thick woods. I made a kind of a tent out of my blankets to put my things under so the rain couldn't get at them.1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VIII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC
(archaic) One's inherent nature; character, natural disposition.
- Must yt nedes folowe that theyr fayth was chaunged in kynde, bycause yt was augmented in degrees.1533, Thomas More, The second parte of the confutacion of Tyndals answere in whyche is also confuted the chyrche that Tyndale deuyseth
- The generall woorde, is spoken of many, that differ either in kynd, or els in nombre.1551, Thomas Wilson, The rule of reason, conteinyng the arte of logique
(archaic) Family, lineage.
- My young love said to me, My mother won’t mind
  And my father won’t slight you for your lack of kind."She Moved through the Fair" (traditional Irish folk song)
(archaic) Manner.
Goods or services used as payment, as e.g. in barter.
- in kind
- I don't have any money but I can pay in kind by washing the dishes.
Equivalent means used as response to an action.
- in kind
- I'll pay in kind for his insult.
Each of the two elements of the communion service, bread and wine.
(type theory) The type of a type constructor or a higher-order type operator.
- The kind of any primitive data type is *, corresponding to a nullary constructor.
(Caribbean, in-compounds) Food in a particular category.
- Fish kind was what she ate then.1998, Easton Lee, From Behind the Counter: Poems from a Rural Jamaican Experience
- The farmers had plenty of ground provisions, but there was no "meat kind."2005 January 1, Michaeline A. Crichlow, Negotiating Caribbean Freedom: Peasants and the State in Development, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 116

Adjective

kind (comparative kinder, superlative kindest)

Having a benevolent, courteous, friendly, generous, gentle, liberal, sympathetic, or warm-hearted nature or disposition, marked by consideration for – and service to – others.
- Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The vvhilſt their ovvne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittifull.c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas...
Affectionate.
- a kind man; a kind heart
- Yet was he kind, or if severe in aught, / The love he bore to learning was in fault.1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC
Favorable.
- Thy words aſſure me of kind ſucceſſe: / Go valiant Souldier, go before and charge / The fainting army of that foolish King.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
Mild, gentle, forgiving
- The years have been kind to Richard Gere; he ages well.
Gentle; tractable; easily governed.
- a horse kind in harness
(obsolete) Characteristic of the species; belonging to one's nature; natural; native.
- it becommeth sweeter than it should be, and loseth the kind tast.1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C....

kind meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

kind in Hindi

type, race, category: तरह tarah, प्रकार prakār, दयालु dayālu
affectionate, nice: दया dayā

kind in Marathi

type, race, category: प्रकार prakār
affectionate, nice: दयाळू dayāḷū

kind in Urdu

type, race, category: نوع nū'

More languagesFewer languages

kind in Bengali: প্রকার prokar, প্রজাতি projati
kind in Telugu: రకము rakamu, జాతి jāti
kind in Malayalam: ദയ daya
kind in Kannada: ಜಾತಿ jāti
kind in Punjabi: ਵਰਗ varag, ਕਿਸਮ kisam
kind in Gujarati: પ્રકાર prakār
kind in Odia: ଜାତ jāta, ବର୍ଗ barga
kind in Sanskrit: कृपा kṛpā
kind in Assamese: ধৰণ dhoron
kind in Pashto: خېل xel
kind in Tagalog: uri, mabait
kind in Arabic: نوع, حَنُون ḥanūn, لَطِيف laṭīf
kind in Malay: jenis
kind in Indonesian: baik
kind in Persian: گونه gune, نوع now', تیپ tip, خیم xim
kind in Thai: ชนิด chá-nít, ประเภท bprà-pêet, อย่าง yàang, ใจดี jai-dii
kind in Vietnamese: loại, tốt bụng
kind in Myanmar: မျိုး myui:

Examples of kind in a sentence

Neither of them is the marrying kind.
How diversely Love doth his pageants play, / And shews his powre in variable kinds !1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 1:
'Tis all one..whether our Afflictions be the same with those of others, in Kind, or not Superiour to them in Degree.1665, Robert Boyle, Occasional Reflections upon Several Subjects. Whereto is premis'd a Discourse about such kind of thoughts:
He also argued powerfully, if less influentially, that animals' and humans' capacities differ largely in degree and not in kind.2002, D. DeGrazia, Animal Rights:
Some of you, on pure instinct of nature, / Are led by kind t'admire your fellow-creature.1691, John Dryden, Prologue to King Arthur:

All 40 example sentences with kind

Synonyms of kind

All synonyms of kind

Forms of kind

Noun
plural	kinds
alternative form (obsolete)	kinde
alternative form (obsolete)	kynd
alternative form (obsolete)	kynde
Adjective
comparative	kinder
superlative	kindest

Plural of kind: kinds

Origin of kind

From Middle English kynde, kinde, from Old English cynd, ġecynd (“inherent nature, disposition, kind, gender, generation, race”), from Proto-West Germanic *kundi, from Proto-Germanic *kinþiz, related to Proto-Germanic *kunją (“race, kin”) and Old English cennan (“to bear, give birth”). Cognate with Old High German gikunt (“nature, kind”), Icelandic kind (“race, species, kind”). Doublet of gens, genesis, and jati. See also kin.

From Middle English kynde, kinde, from Old English cynde, ġecynde (“innate, natural, native”), from Old English cynd, ġecynd (“nature, kind”).

Words formed from kind

Phrases with kind

2 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with kind

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about kind

What does kind mean?: Kind means a type, race or category; a group of entities that have common characteristics such that they may be grouped together.
What is kind in Hindi?: Kind in Hindi is तरह (tarah), प्रकार (prakār), दयालु (dayālu). See Kind meaning in Hindi.
How do you use kind in a sentence?: Neither of them is the marrying kind.
What part of speech is kind?: Kind can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce kind?: Kind is pronounced /kaɪnd/.
What is the plural of kind?: The plural of kind is kinds.

Words near kind in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: kind (page history and authors); kind (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಜಾತಿ (Kannada) (page history and authors); પ્રકાર (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଜାତ (Odia) (page history and authors); خېل (Pashto) (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-kind.ogg.

Cite this entry: “kind.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kind. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.