Kid is Norse, from Old Norse kið, "young goat," borrowed about 1200. The hard k before a front vowel is the marker: native English words in that position tended to soften, and the Old English word for a young goat was something else entirely, ticcen. The same test flags get, give and gift.
The sense of a human child is the interesting part. It was probably in use by the 1590s, certainly by the 1680s, and became ordinary informal English only in the 1840s. On the way it did time in slang for prizefighters, by 1812, and for skilful young thieves in the 1830s — which is the sense behind the nickname of Billy the Kid. A magazine of 1839 explained that in slang a dashing person is called a kid, "in fact, a synonym for a knowing one."
kid
(n.)
c. 1200,
kide
, "the young of a goat," from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse
kið
"young goat," from Proto-Germanic
*kidjom
(source also of Old High German
kizzi
, German
kitze
, Danish and Swedish
kid
), a word of uncertain origin. The Old English (West Saxon) word for "young goat" was
ticcen
.
The extended meaning "child" is perhaps by 1590s ("I'm old, you say; Yes, parlous old, kids, and you mark me well!" in "The Old Law," by Massinger, etc.*), certainly by 1680s (see
kidnap
). In informal common use for "a child" after 1840s. It had been applied in slang to pugilists (by 1812) and skillful young thieves (1830s) as in the nickname of outlaw
Billy the Kid
.
IN slang language, a dashing person is often called a
kid
, or a
kiddy
. It is in fact, a synonym for a
knowing one
. ["Gentleman's Magazine," October 1839]
Kid brother
"younger brother" is by 1890;
kid sister
by 1892.
Kid stuff
"something easy" is from 1913 (the phrase was in use about that time in reference to vaudeville acts or advertisements featuring children, and to child-oriented features in newspapers).
The skin or fell of kids was used to make a soft cloth, especially for gloves, slippers, boots. Hence as an adjective, "made of soft leather," as though from the skin of a kid (Middle English), but commercially by 19c. often in reference to material from calf or other skins.
Kid glove
"a glove made of kidskin leather" is by 1670s; they were popular in aristocratic costume, thus
kid-glove
(adj.) had a sense of "dainty, elegant" (by 1856). It was commonly paired with
silk-stocking
and followed by
gentry
or
aristocrat
.
Kid-gloved
"characterized by wearing kid gloves" (hence "aristocratic") is by 1836.
Kid glove
(v.) "handle in a delicate manner" (befitting of an aristocrat) is attested by 1913 (
kid-gloving
) from earlier phrases, e.g. "they will handle him in kid gloves, nothing harsher" [Vermont Patriot, Feb. 4, 1839, of a politician escaping punishment by his party].
* lechery, as well as youth, might be the notion. In the same brief speech he also calls them
jack-boys
,
glyster-pipes
,
lank suck-eggs
,
weasels
, and
lecherous dog-bolts
.
also from c. 1200
kid
(v.)
"tease playfully," 1839, earlier, in thieves' cant, "to coax, wheedle, hoax" (1811), probably from
kid
(n.), via notion of "treat as a child, make a kid of." Related:
Kidded
;
kidding
. Colloquial interjection
no kidding!
"that's the truth" is from 1914 (earlier
no kid
"no deceit," by 1873).
also from 1839
kid came in through Old Norse, and its spelling follows that family's conventions.
How that family writes these sounds
| hard /g/ or /k/ before e or i | plain g or k. A native word would have softened here, so the hard sound is the loanget, give, gift, kid |
What gives it away on the page
| hard g or k before e/i | Native words palatalised here — the same root gives yield, yell.get, give, gift, kid |
Old Norse in the spelling guide · guess another word's family