kidney

== English == === Etymology === 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. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈkɪdni/, [ˈkɪdnɪi̯] Rhymes: -ɪdni Hyphenation: kid‧ney === Noun === 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) 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. ==== Synonyms ==== rein nephros ren ==== Holonyms ==== urinary tract ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === See also === renal suprarenal === References === Barnhart, Robert and Steinmetz, Sol, editors (1988), “kidney”, in The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology‎[4], Bronxville, N.Y.: The H. W. Wilson Co., →ISBN, →OCLC, page 564, column 2. Onions, C[harles] T., Friedrichsen, G. W. S., and Burchfield, R[obert] W., editors (1966), “kidney”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology‎[5], Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 505, column 1; reprinted 1994. === Anagrams === dinkey