kidney
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Middle English kednei, kidenei, from earlier kidnēre, kidenēre (“kidney”). Of uncertain origin. Probably a compound consisting of Middle English *kid-, *quid- (“belly, womb”), from Old English cwiþ, cwiþa (“belly, womb, stomach”) + Middle English nēre (“kidney”), from Old English *nēore (“kidney”), from Proto-Germanic *neuran (“kidney”), from Proto-Indo-European *negʷh-r- (“kidney”). If so, then related to Dutch nier (“kidney”), German Niere (“kidney”), Danish nyre (“kidney”), Swedish njure (“kidney”).
Alternate etymology traces the first element to Old English cēod, codd (“sack, scrotum”), from Proto-Germanic *keudō (“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”). More at codpiece.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
kidney (plural kidneys)
- An organ in the body that produces urine.
- This organ (of an animal) cooked as food
- (figuratively) constitution, temperament, nature
- 1920, T.S. Eliot, A Cooking Egg[1]:
- I shall not want Honour in Heaven
For I shall meet Sir Philip Sidney
And have talk with Coriolanus
And other heroes of that kidney.
- I shall not want Honour in Heaven
- 1920, T.S. Eliot, A Cooking Egg[1]:
[edit] Translations
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