# kid

/ˈkɪd/ (US) · /kˈɪd/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/kid
Updated: 2026-08-15

## Senses

### 1. a child

noun · CEFR A2 · Informal

a child or a young person.

For teachers: a child, adolescent, or young adult. Highly frequent in spoken English but less common in formal writing.

- The kids were playing in the garden while their parents cooked dinner.
- The community centre provides various after-school programmes designed to keep local kids engaged in productive activities.

### 2. young goat

noun · CEFR B2

a young goat.

For teachers: a juvenile goat; also refers to the leather made from its skin.

- The farmer watched the young kid follow its mother across the field.
- The artisan used high-quality kid leather to craft the gloves, ensuring they were both soft and durable.

### 3. to joke

verb · CEFR B1 · Informal

to say something that is not true as a joke.

For teachers: to engage in playful teasing or to make a joke, often by pretending something false is true.

- I was only kidding when I said I was moving to another country.
- He realized his colleagues were kidding him about the promotion only after he saw them struggling to hide their laughter.

### 4. to deceive yourself

verb · CEFR B2 · Informal

to try to make yourself believe something that is not true.

For teachers: to deceive oneself or others, often used reflexively to describe self-delusion.

- You are kidding yourself if you think this project will be finished by tomorrow.
- The management was kidding themselves by assuming the market would recover without any significant changes to their strategy.

### 5. nautical tub

noun · CEFR C2 · Archaic · Technical

a small wooden tub used by sailors for their food.

For teachers: a small wooden mess tub in which sailors received their rations.

- The sailor filled his kid with the daily ration of stew.
- Historical accounts of life at sea often mention the communal kid from which the crew would share their humble meals.

## Examples

- The kids are playing in the garden.
- I need to pick up the kids from school before the grocery store closes.

---

From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.