kidney
kid·ney/ˈkɪdni/noun
kidney is spelled K-I-D-N-E-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables (kid·ney). It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,784th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, kidney means “An organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of kidney is kidneys.
How many letters and syllables are in kidney?
| Letters | 6: K-I-D-N-E-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: kid·ney |
| In writing | 11 times per million words; the 6,784th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is kidney?
Kidney appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,784th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce kidney?
- /ˈkɪdni/
- [ˈkɪdnɪi̯]
Kidney has 2 syllables, split kid·ney in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-kidney.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with kidney?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as kidney.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: dinkey.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of kidney
- kidneys plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does kidney mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine.
- 2
This organ (of an animal) cooked as food.
- 3
datedConstitution, temperament, nature, type, character, disposition. (usually used of people)
30th June, 1788, Robert Burns, letter to Mr Robert Ainslie Your poets, spendthrifts, and other fools of that kidney, pretend, forsooth, to crack their jokes on prudence.
- 4
obsoleteslangA waiter.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Kidney in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does kidney come from?
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”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).