different between kind vs little

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?nd, IPA^(key): /ka?nd/
• Rhymes: -a?nd

Etymology 1

From Middle English kynde, kunde, cunde, icunde, from Old English cynd (“generation, kind, nature, race”), ?ecynd, from Proto-Germanic *kundiz, *gakundiz, related to *kunj?. Cognate with Icelandic kind (“race, species, kind”). Doublet of gens, genesis, and jati. See also kin.

Alternative forms

• kinde, kynd, kynde (obsolete)

Noun

kind (plural kinds)

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.
   • 1884, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter VIII

     I got my traps out of the canoe and made me a nice camp in the thick woods. I made a kind of a tent out of my blankets to put my things under so the rain couldn't get at them.

3. (archaic) One's inherent nature; character, natural disposition.
4. (archaic) Family, lineage.
5. (archaic) Manner.
7. Goods or services used as payment, as e.g. in barter.
   • 1691, John Dryden, Prologue to King Arthur

     Some of you, on pure instinct of nature, / Are led by kind t'admire your fellow-creature.

8. Equivalent means used as response to an action.

9. (Christianity) Each of the two elements of the communion service, bread and wine.

Usage notes

In sense “goods or services” or “equivalent means”, used almost exclusively with “in” in expression in kind.

Synonyms

• genre
• sort
• type
• derivative

(1) and/or (2)

• generation
• offspring
• child
• See also Thesaurus:class

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English kinde, kunde, kende, from Old English cynde, ?ecynde (“innate, natural, native”), from Old English cynd, ?ecynd (“nature, kind”).

Alternative forms

• kinde (obsolete)

Adjective

kind (comparative kinder, superlative kindest)

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. Affectionate.
   • 1770, Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village

     Yet was he kind, or if severe in aught, / The love he bore to learning was in fault.

3. Favorable.
4. Mild, gentle, forgiving

5. Gentle; tractable; easily governed.

6. (obsolete) Characteristic of the species; belonging to one's nature; natural; native.
   • c. 1385, William Langland, Piers Plowman, I:

     ?et haue I no kynde knowing quod I · ?et mote ?e kenne me better.

   • it becommeth sweeter than it should be, and loseth the kind tast.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:affectionate

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• Kind in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• DINK, dink

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch kind, from Middle Dutch kint, from Old Dutch kint, from Proto-Germanic *kind? (“offspring”), from Proto-Indo-European *?enh?tóm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?nt/

Noun

kind (plural kinders)

1. child

Anagrams

• dink

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse kinn, from Proto-Germanic *kinnuz, from Proto-Indo-European *?énu- (“cheek”). Compare Swedish kind, Norwegian and Icelandic kinn, Low German and German Kinn, Dutch kin, English chin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ken/, [k?en?]

Noun

kind c (singular definite kinden, plural indefinite kinder)

1. cheek

Inflection

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch kint, from Old Dutch kint, from Proto-West Germanic *kind (“offspring”), from Proto-Germanic *kind? (“offspring”), from Proto-Indo-European *?enh?tóm (“that which is produced, that which is given birth to”), related to *?n?h?tós (“produced, given birth”), from *?enh?- (“to produce, to give birth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?nt/
• Hyphenation: kind
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

kind n (plural kinderen or kinders, diminutive kindje n or kindertje n or kindeken n or kindelijn n)

1. child, kid, non-adult human

2. descendant, still a minor or irrespective of age

   In sommige patriarchale tradities blijven kinderen levenslang onvoorwaardelijk onderworpen aan het vaderlijk gezag, zoals aanvankelijk in het Oude Rome, in andere houdt een zoon op kind te zijn door zijn eigen gezin te stichten

   In certain patriarchal traditions, children remain subject to unconditional paternal authority for life, as originally in Ancient Rome, in other ones a son ceases to be a child by founding his own family

   Synonyms: afstammeling, telg

3. (figuratively) product of influence, breeding etc.

Usage notes

• The normal plural is kinderen. The form kinders is heard colloquially, often also humorously.
• In compounds, the word can take the form kinder- or kind- as a tail. The former is used more often, however.
• The dimunitive kindelijn is now archaic, but can still be found in some fossilized songs and religious texts.

Derived terms

See also

• dochter
• zoon
• blaag

Descendants

• Afrikaans: kind

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse kind, from Proto-Germanic *kinþiz, cognate with Latin g?ns (“clan, tribe”). The sense of “sheep” is derived from the compound sauðkind, literally “sheep-kind”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /c??nt/
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

kind f

1. (obsolete) race, kind, kin
2. a sheep (especially a ewe)
3. (dated) used as a term of disparagement for a girl (or woman)

Declension

Synonyms

• (sheep): rolla, sauðkind

Derived terms

• kindarlegur
• mannkind
• sauðkind

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse kind f, from Proto-Germanic *kinþiz, from Proto-Indo-European *?énh?tis. Akin to English kind.

Noun

kind m (definite singular kinden, indefinite plural kindar, definite plural kindane)
kind n (definite singular kindet, indefinite plural kind, definite plural kinda)

1. a child in a cradle

References

• “kind” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *kinþiz. Compare Latin g?ns (“clan, tribe”).

Noun

kind f (genitive kindar, plural kindir or kindr)

1. race, kind, kin
2. creature, being

Declension

Derived terms

• mannkind
• sauðkind

Descendants

• Icelandic: kind f

References

• kind in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *kind (“child”).

Noun

kind n

1. child

Declension

Descendants

• Middle Low German: kind, kint, kynd
  • Dutch Low Saxon: kind, kiend, keend
  • German Low German: Kind
  • ? Old Frisian: kind
    • West Frisian: kyn

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse kinn, from Proto-Germanic *kinnuz, from Proto-Indo-European *?énu- (“cheek”). Compare Danish kind, Norwegian and Icelandic kinn, German Kinn, Dutch kin, English chin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nd/

Noun

kind c

1. (anatomy) cheek; a part of the face.

Declension

Zealandic

Etymology

From Middle Dutch kint

Noun

kind n (plural kinders)

1. child

English

Etymology

From Middle English litel, from Old English l?tel, from Proto-Germanic *l?tilaz (“tending to stoop, crouched, little”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewd- (“to bend, bent, small”), equivalent to lout +? -le. Cognate with Dutch luttel, regional German lütt and lützel, West Frisian lyts, Low German lütt, Old High German luzzil, Middle High German lützel, Old English l?tan (“to bow, bend low”); and perhaps to Old English lytig (“deceitful, lot deceit”), Gothic ???????????????????? (liuts, “deceitful”), ???????????????????????? (lutjan, “to deceive”); compare also Icelandic lítill (“little”), Swedish liten, Danish liden, lille, Gothic ???????????????????????????? (leitils), which appear to have a different root vowel. More at lout.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?l?t?l/, [?l?tl?], [?l?.t???]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?l?tl?/, [?l?.???], [???.??]
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?l?tl?/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /?l?.???/
• Rhymes: -?t?l
• Hyphenation: lit?tle
• Homophone: Littell

Adjective

little (comparative less or lesser or littler, superlative least or littlest)

1. Small in size.

2. Insignificant, trivial.
   1. (offensive) Used to belittle a person.

3. Very young.

4. (of a sibling) Younger.

5. (also Little) Used with the name of a place, especially of a country or its capital, to denote a neighborhood whose residents or storekeepers are from that place.
   • 1871 October 18, The One-eyed Philosopher [pseudonym], "Street Corners", in Judy: or the London serio-comic journal, volume 9, page 255 [1]:

     If you want to find Little France, take any turning on the north side of Leicester square, and wander in a zigzag fashion Oxford Streetwards. The Little is rather smokier and more squalid than the Great France upon the other side of the Manche.

   • 2004, Barry Miles, Zappa: A Biography, 2005 edition, ?ISBN, page 5:

     In the forties, hurdy-gurdy men could still be heard in all those East Coast cities with strong Italian neighbourhoods: New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston. A visit to Baltimore's Little Italy at that time was like a trip to Italy itself.

   • 2020, Richa Bhosale, "Croatian Hall in need of repairs to remain open," Timmins Daily Press:

     "The theatre was bought by the Croatian immigrants as so many immigrants came here in the ’30s and mostly for mining jobs, but in Schumacher itself it was called little Zagreb, and Zagreb is the capital city of Croatia. There were so many of them that they wanted to have their own little community, so they bought the theatre and they renovated it at that time, remodelled it and made it into a Croatian Hall," she explained.

6. Having few members.

7. Short in duration; brief.

   I feel better after my little sleep.

8. Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow; shallow; contracted; mean; illiberal; ungenerous.

   • The long-necked geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise, / Because their natures are little.

   • 2001, Nicholas Petsalis-Diomidis, The Unknown Callas: the Greek Years, pg 547.

     Showing unmistakably what a little person he really was, in June 1949 he wrote his newly married daughter with nauseating disregard for the truth

Usage notes

Some authorities regard both littler and littlest as non-standard. The OED says of the word little: "the adjective has no recognized mode of comparison. The difficulty is commonly evaded by resort to a synonym (as smaller, smallest); some writers have ventured to employ the unrecognized forms littler, littlest, which are otherwise confined to dialect or imitations of childish or illiterate speech." The forms lesser and least are encountered in animal names such as lesser flamingo and least weasel.

Antonyms

• (small): large, big
• (young): big
• (younger): big

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

little (comparative less or lesser, superlative least)

1. Not much.

   We slept very little last night.

   • Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy […] distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.

2. Not at all.

Antonyms

• much

Translations

Determiner

little (comparative less, superlative least)

1. Not much, only a little: only a small amount (of).

   There is (very) little water left.

   We had very little to do.

Usage notes

• Little is used with uncountable nouns, few with plural countable nouns.
• Little can be used with or without an article. With the indefinite article, the emphasis is that there is indeed some, albeit not much:

We have a little money, so we'll probably get by.

With no article or the definite article (or what), the emphasis is on the scarcity:

We have little money, and little hope of getting more.

The little (or What little) money we have is all going to pay for food and medication, so we can't save any.

See also

• a little

Antonyms

• (not much): much

Translations

Pronoun

little

1. Not much; not a large amount.

   Little is known about his early life.

Noun

little (plural littles)

1. A small amount.

   Can I try a little of that sauce?

   Many littles make a mickle. (Scottish proverb)

   Little did he do to make me comfortable.

   If you want some cake, there's a little in the refrigerator

2. (BDSM, slang) The participant in ageplay who acts out the younger role.
3. (colloquial, college slang) A newly initiated member of a sorority.

Antonyms

• (BDSM): big

Derived terms

• little space

Related terms

• a little
• li'l, li'l', lil
• little by little
• little old
• belittle (cognate verb)

Anagrams

• tillet