Etymology

kindergarten

kin·der·gar·ten
K5I1N1D2E1R1G2A1R1T1E1N1

Today it means: An educational institution for young children, usually between ages 4 and 6; a nursery school. Full definition →

First used 1852German Kindergarten
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The story

  1. German · borrowed fromKindergarten“kindergarten”
  2. English todaykindergarten

Unadapted borrowing from German Kindergarten (“kindergarten”, literally “garden of children”), coined by German pedagogue Friedrich Fröbel in 1840.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1852 An educational institution for young children, usually between ages 4 and 6; a nursery school.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.