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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.
Synonyms
Examples of kid in a Sentence
Kathy Kristof, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Jan. 2025
Most afternoons, the pool was alive with our big family, actually a pair of merged families, and, as time passed and our kids went into their high-school years, swarms of visitors.
—John McPhee, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
Courtney Howard, Variety, 23 Dec. 2024
The food across restaurants gives each guest multiple options from appetizers to desserts, ranging from kid favorites like chicken fingers to adult delights like lamb chops.
—Leslie D. Rose, Parents, 20 Dec. 2024
Dossé-Via Trenou, refinery29.com, 17 Dec. 2024
Brooklyn, the eldest of David, 49, and his wife Victoria Beckham’s four children, has had a habit of shopping from his father’s closet since he was kid.
—Michelle Lee, People.com, 23 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for kid 
Dictionary Entries Near kid
Cite this Entry
“Kid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kid. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
kid
2 of 2 verb
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