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Is the word kid slang?
Some people worry that kid, when used of a child rather than a juvenile goat, is either slang or too colloquial to merit acceptance in standard English.
The fact is that we have been using kid to refer to a child that is human, rather than goatish, for more than three hundred years now. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that although this word was considered “low slang” when it first began being used, it had entered “familiar speech” by the 19th century.
In contemporary English, kid is neither slang nor improper. It is, however, most definitely informal, so those writing professionally or in a formal register might prefer to use child.
Examples of kid in a Sentence
Jay Cohen, Chicago Tribune, 30 June 2025
Parents may have wholesome bedtime routines for their kids, involving bath time, story time, and music.
—Beth Ann Mayer, Parents, 30 June 2025
Adrianna Rodriguez, USA Today, 27 June 2025
Humongous Entertainment launched Backyard Baseball in October 1997 on Windows and Mac devices, earning a legion of fans with its cartoon art and set of diverse kid characters.
—Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 12 June 2025
Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
But internally, no one is kidding themselves or trying to sugarcoat the results.
—Pamela McClintock, HollywoodReporter, 24 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for kid
Cite this Entry
“Kid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kid. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
kid
2 of 2 verb
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