Meaning & use
kid
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A child or young person, in casual speech.
Grammar: Informal; in careful writing use child or children: the kid next door.
Patterns
- a kid
- kids
The kid next door plays the drums every afternoon.
When I was a kid, we spent summers at my grandmother's farm.
Parents with kids can board the plane first.
verbtransitive or intransitiveinformal
To tease someone or say something untrue as a joke, not meaning it seriously.
Grammar: Used with or without an object: I am just kidding; are you kidding me?
Patterns
- kid someone
- kid about something
- kid yourself
I am only kidding, so please do not take it seriously.
They kidded him about his new haircut for a week.
You are kidding yourself if you think the exam will be easy.
nouncountable or uncountable
A young goat, or the soft leather made from its skin.
Grammar: Countable for the animal: two kids on the hillside; uncountable for the leather: gloves of kid.
Patterns
- a kid goat
- kid leather
The farmer fed a newborn kid with a bottle.
A white kid skipped across the field behind its mother.
She wore soft gloves made of kid.
Word forms
| plural | kids |
|---|---|
| third person singular | kids |
| past tense | kidded |
| past participle | kidded |
| -ing form | kidding |
Common combinations
- just kidding
- I did not lose your keys, just kidding!
- no kidding
- No kidding, we got there in under an hour.
- kid yourself
- Do not kid yourself that the work will do itself.
- kids' menu
- The restaurant has a kids' menu with smaller portions.
- the new kid
- The new kid in class sat alone at lunch.
Synonyms and how they differ
- child
- Child is neutral and works in formal and informal writing, while kid is casual.
- youngster
- Youngster is a little old-fashioned and often says the young person is lively, while kid is simply casual.
- tease
- Tease can be kind or unkind and may continue for a long time, while kid is a quick, light joke.
- joke
- Joke is the general word for saying something funny, while kid especially describes pretending something is true.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: kid or kidnap?
kid vs kidnap
Kidnap sounds like it starts with kid but means taking a person away illegally, and it has nothing to do with joking.
Practice
"I got the job!" "No way, you must be ___ me." Which word completes the reply with the joking meaning?
Choose one answer.
Be kidding (someone) means to be joking, so the -ing form completes the reply. Kidnapping is a crime, and the other forms are not grammatical here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “kid”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.