kidney
see also: Kidney
Etymology
Kidney
Etymology
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
see also: Kidney
Etymology
From Middle English kednei, kidenei, from earlier kidnēre, kidenēre, of obscure origin and formation.
Alternate etymology traces the first element to Old English cēod, codd, from Proto-Germanic *keudō as the terms for testicle and kidney were often interchangeable in Germanic (compare Old High German nioro, gmq-osw vigniauri).
Pronunciation- (British, Canada) IPA: /ˈkɪdni/
kidney (plural kidneys)
- An organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine.
- This organ (of an animal) cooked as food.
- (figuratively, dated) Constitution, temperament, nature, type, character, disposition. (usually used of people)
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:
- […] think of that, – a man of my kidney, – think of that, […]
- 1692, Roger L'Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC ↗:
- Millions in the World of this Man's Kidney
- 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.
- (obsolete, slang) A waiter.
Kidney
Etymology
From a mistranslation of Irish Ó Dubháin (directly rendered in English as Duane), a personal name from a diminutive of dubh ("black").
Proper nounThis text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
