# kind

> English word · Noun · IPA /kaɪnd/ · frequency rank #337

## Definitions
1. A type, race or category; a group of entities that have common characteristics such that they may be grouped together.
2. A makeshift or otherwise atypical specimen.
3. One's inherent nature; character, natural disposition.
4. Family, lineage.
5. Manner.
6. Goods or services used as payment, as e.g. in barter.
7. Equivalent means used as response to an action.
8. Each of the two elements of the communion service, bread and wine.
9. The type of a type constructor or a higher-order type operator.
10. Food in a particular category.

## Etymology
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”).
Cognate with Old High German gikunt (“nature, kind”), Icelandic kind (“race, species, kind”). Doublet of gens, genesis, and jati. See also kin.

## Easily confused with
- **kit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kit)
- **kun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kun)
- **kip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kip)
- **kno** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kno)
- **king** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-king)
- **kiss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kiss)
- **Kong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kong)
- **kirk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kirk)
- **kits** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kits)
- **kite** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kite)
- **kiwi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kiwi)
- **kink** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kink)
- **Kira** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kira)
- **Kona** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kona)
- **Kita** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kita)
- **kino** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kino)
- **kono** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kono)
- **Kitt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kitt)
- **kinda** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kinda)
- **kinds** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kind-vs-kinds)

## Common misspellings (6)
`iknd`, `kidn`, `kindd`, `kinnd`, `kkind`, `knid`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/kind