Meanings
kidney1
plural kidneys
- An organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine.
The liver and the kidneys of animals have long been gastronomically popular for their aphrodisiac properties.
1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 1241 more example
An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.
2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly) - This organ (of an animal) cooked as food.
- datedfigurativelyConstitution, temperament, nature, type, character, disposition. (usually used of people)
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.
3 more examples
[…] think of that, – a man of my kidney, – think of that, […]
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)]Millions in the World of this Man's Kidney
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, […], →OCLCI shall not want Honour in Heaven For I shall meet Sir Philip Sidney And have talk with Coriolanus And other heroes of that kidney.
1920, T.S. Eliot, A Cooking Egg - obsoleteslangA waiter.
1 more example
I once more desire my readers to consider that as I cannot keep an ingenious man to go daily to Will's under twopence each day merely for his charges, to White's under sixpence, nor to the Grecian without allowing him some plain Spanish, to be as able as others at the learned table; and that a good observer cannot speak with even Kidney at St. James's without clean linen; […]
1709, Richard Steele, The Tatler, volume 1
Kidney2
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
kidney · noun
- Old Englishcwiþ
- Ancient Greekνεφρός“kidney”
- Proto-Indo-European*negʷʰr-“kidney”
- Proto-Germanic*neurô“kidney”
- Proto-West Germanic*neurō
- Middle Low Germannêre“kidney”
- Old English*nēora
- Proto-Germanic*kuddijā“sack”
- Old English*cydde“sack, scrotum”
- Middle Englishnere“kidney”
- Middle English*kidde“sack”
- Middle Englishkideney
- Englishkidney
From Middle English kideney, kydeney, alteration of earlier kidenere (“kidney”) after ey (“egg”), of obscure origin and formation. Probably a compound consisting of Middle English *kidde (“sack”) + Middle English nere (“kidney”). The first element would be from Old English *cydde (“sack, scrotum”), from Proto-Germanic *kuddijā (“sack”), as the terms for testicle and kidney were often interchangeable in Germanic (compare Old High German nioro (“kidney", also "testicle”), Old Swedish vig-niauri (“testicle”)); the second is from Old English *nēora or Middle Low German nêre (“kidney”), from Proto-West Germanic *neurō, from Proto-Germanic *neurô (“kidney”), from Proto-Indo-European *negʷʰr- (“kidney”). If so, then related to dialectal English near (“kidney”), Scots neir (“kidney”), Saterland Frisian Njuure (“kidney”), West Frisian nier (“kidney”), Dutch nier (“kidney”), German Niere (“kidney”), Danish nyre (“kidney”), Norwegian nyre (“kidney”), Swedish njure (“kidney”), Ancient Greek νεφρός (nephrós, “kidney”). An alternate etymology traces the first element to Old English cwiþ, cwiþa (“belly, womb, stomach”), though the loss of /w/ in a stressed syllable is difficult to explain.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Kidney · proper noun
- IrishÓ Dubháin“descendant of Dubhán”
- EnglishKidney
From a mistranslation of Irish Ó Dubháin (“descendant of Dubhán”) (directly rendered in English as Duane), a personal name from a diminutive of dubh (“black”). This was confused with dubhán (“kidney”), which in fact is a derivative of dubh (“black”).
More words from Irish
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans nier, nier
- nieran organ in the body
- nierfood
Ancient Greek νεφρός
- νεφρός (nephrós)an organ in the body
Arabic كُلْيَة
- كُلْيَة (kulya)an organ in the body
Basque giltzurrun, giltzurrun
- giltzurrunan organ in the body
- giltzurrunfood
Bengali কিডনি, বৃক্ক
- কিডনি (kiḍni)an organ in the body
- বৃক্ক (brikko)an organ in the body
- অন্ত্র (ontro)an organ in the body
Bulgarian бъ́брек, бъ́бреци
- бъ́брек (bắbrek)an organ in the body
- бъ́бреци (bắbreci)food
Catalan ronyó, ronyó
- ronyóan organ in the body
- ronyófood
Chinese Cantonese 腎 /肾, 腎 /肾
- 腎 /肾 (san⁶)an organ in the body
- 腎 /肾 (san⁶)food
- 腰 (jiu¹)food
Chinese Mandarin 腎臟 /肾脏, 腎 /肾
- 腎臟 /肾脏 (shènzàng)an organ in the body
- 腎 /肾 (shèn)an organ in the body
- 腰子 (yāozi)an organ in the body
- 腎 /肾 (shèn)food
- 腰 (yāo)food
Czech ledvina, ledvinky
- ledvinaan organ in the body
- ledvinkyfood
Danish nyre
- nyrean organ in the body
Dutch nier
- nieran organ in the body
Esperanto reno
- renoan organ in the body
Estonian neer
- neeran organ in the body
Finnish munuainen, munuainen
- munuainenan organ in the body
- munuainenfood
French rein, rognon
- reinan organ in the body
- rognonfood
German Niere
- Nierean organ in the body
Greek νεφρό
- νεφρό (nefró)an organ in the body
Hawaiian hakuʻala
- hakuʻalaan organ in the body
Hebrew כִּלְיָה, כְּלָיוֹת
- כִּלְיָה (kilya)an organ in the body
- כְּלָיוֹת (klayót)an organ in the body
Hindi गुर्दा
- गुर्दा (gurdā)an organ in the body
Hungarian vese
- vesean organ in the body
Icelandic nýra
- nýraan organ in the body
Indonesian ginjal
- ginjalan organ in the body
Irish duán
- duánan organ in the body
Italian rene, rognone
- renean organ in the body
- rognonefood
Japanese 腎臓
- 腎臓 (jinzō)an organ in the body
Korean 콩팥, 신장
- 콩팥 (kongpat)an organ in the body
- 신장 (sinjang)an organ in the body
Latin rēn
- rēnan organ in the body
Latvian niere, īkstis
- nierean organ in the body
- īkstisan organ in the body
Lithuanian inkstas
- inkstasan organ in the body
Malay ginjal, kerinjal
- ginjalan organ in the body
- kerinjalan organ in the body
- buah pinggangan organ in the body
Māori tākihi, whatukuhu
- tākihian organ in the body
- whatukuhuan organ in the body
- whatumanawaan organ in the body
Norwegian Bokmål nyre, nyre
- nyrean organ in the body
- nyrefood
Polish nerka, cynaderka
- nerkaan organ in the body
- cynaderkafood
Portuguese rim, rim
- riman organ in the body
- rimfood
Punjabi ਗੁਰਦਾ
- ਗੁਰਦਾ (gurdā)an organ in the body
Romanian rinichi, rinichi
- rinichian organ in the body
- rinichifood
Russian по́чка, по́чки
- по́чка (póčka)an organ in the body
- по́чки (póčki)food
Scottish Gaelic dubhag
- dubhagan organ in the body
Slovak oblička, ľadvina
- obličkaan organ in the body
- ľadvinaan organ in the body
Spanish riñón
- riñónan organ in the body
Swahili figo
- figoan organ in the body
Swedish njure, njure
- njurean organ in the body
- njurefood
Tagalog bato
- batoan organ in the body
Tamil சிறுநீரகம், குண்டிக்காய்
- சிறுநீரகம் (ciṟunīrakam)an organ in the body
- குண்டிக்காய் (kuṇṭikkāy)an organ in the body
- குண்டிக்காய் (kuṇṭikkāy)food
Thai ไต, วักกะ
- ไต (dtai)an organ in the body
- วักกะ (wák-gà)an organ in the body
- เซ่งจี๊food
- เซี่ยงจี๊food
Turkish böbrek
- böbrekan organ in the body
Ukrainian ни́рка, нирки́
- ни́рка (nýrka)an organ in the body
- нирки́ (nyrký)food
- ни́рки (nýrky)food
Urdu گُرْدَہ
- گُرْدَہ (gurda)an organ in the body
Vietnamese thận, cật
- thậnan organ in the body
- cậtfood
Welsh aren
- arenan organ in the body
Yiddish ניר
- ניר (nir)an organ in the body
Zulu izinso
- izinsoan organ in the body
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with kidney
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
kidney. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kidney
“kidney.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kidney. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kidney,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kidney.
Source: kidney on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.