Skip to main content
PlainSpell

kind

/kaɪnd/noun, adjective

kind is spelled K-I-N-D: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 282 times per million words in written English, the 338th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, kind means “A type, race or category; a group of entities that have common characteristics such that they may be grouped together” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of kind is kinds.

How many letters and syllables are in kind?

Letters4: K-I-N-D
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing282 times per million words; the 338th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 kind?

Kind appears 282 times per million words in written English, the 338th 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 kind?

  • /kaɪnd/

Kind has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-kind.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with kind?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as kind.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: dink.

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 kind

  • kinds plural
  • kinder comparative
  • kindest superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does kind mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    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?

  2. 2

    A makeshift or otherwise atypical specimen.

    The opening served as a kind of window.

  3. 3

    archaicOne's inherent nature; character, natural disposition.

  4. 4

    archaicFamily, lineage.

    My young love said to me, My mother won’t mind And my father won’t slight you for your lack of kind.

  5. 5

    archaicManner.

  6. 6

    Goods or services used as payment, as e.g. in barter.

    in kind

  7. 7

    Equivalent means used as response to an action.

    in kind

  8. 8

    Each of the two elements of the communion service, bread and wine.

adjective

  1. 1

    Having a benevolent, courteous, friendly, generous, gentle, liberal, sympathetic, or warm-hearted nature or disposition, marked by consideration for – and service to – others.

  2. 2

    Affectionate.

    a kind man; a kind heart

  3. 3

    Favorable.

  4. 4

    Mild, gentle, forgiving

    The years have been kind to Richard Gere; he ages well.

  5. 5

    Gentle; tractable; easily governed.

    a horse kind in harness

  6. 6

    obsoleteCharacteristic of the species; belonging to one's nature; natural; native.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Kind in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgenre, sorte, acabit (type, race, category), gentil, gentille (affectionate, nice), favorable (favorable)
GermanArt, Sorte (type, race, category), freundlich, gütig, lieb, liebenswürdig (affectionate, nice)
Portuguesetipo, categoria, género, raça, classe (type, race, category), amável (affectionate, nice)
Spanishgénero, forma, índole, calaña, ralea (can be pejorative), laya (type, race, category)

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 kind come from?

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”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after kind