Kim

See also: kim, kìm, and kiṃ

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɪm/
• Rhymes: -ɪm

Etymology 1

Clipping

• Kimball
• Kimberley / Kimberly

Proper noun

Kim

1. A diminutive of the male given names Kimball or Kimberley, transferred from the surname.
   • 1901, Rudyard Kipling, Kim, Chapter 1

     The half-caste woman who looked after him (she smoked opium, and pretended to keep a second-hand furniture shop by the square where the cheap cabs wait) told the missionaries that she was Kim’s mother’s sister; but his mother had been nursemaid in a colonel's family and had married Kimball O’Hara, a young color-sergeant of the Mavericks, an Irish regiment.

2. A diminutive of the female given names Kimberly or Kimberley, transferred from the surname, of 1940s and later usage.
   • 1926, Edna Ferber, Show Boat, Doubleday, Page & Co, page 1:

     Bizarre as was the name she bore, Kim Ravenal always said she was thankful it had been no worse. […] It is no secret that the absurd monosyllable which comprises her given name is made up of the first letters of three states — Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri — in all of which she was, incredibly enough, born.

   • 1991 Don DeLillo, Mao II, Viking, →ISBN, page 16

     It will take some getting used to, a husband named Kim. She has known girls named Kim since she was a squirt in a sunsuit. Quite a few really. Kimberleys and plain Kims.

Translations

male given name

• Arabic: كِيم m (kīm)
• Belarusian: Кім m (Kim)
• Bulgarian: Ким m (Kim)
• Catalan: Quim (ca) m
• Danish: Kim
• Japanese: キム (ja) (Kimu)
• Macedonian: Ким m (Kim)
• Norwegian: Kim (no)
• Portuguese: Kim m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: Ким (ru) m (Kim)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Ким m

  Roman: Kim m

• Slovak: Kim m
• Swedish: Kim (sv)
• Ukrainian: Кім m (Kim)

female given name

• Dutch: Kim (nl)
• Russian: Ким (ru) f (Kim)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Slovak: Kim f
• Swedish: Kim (sv)

Etymology 2

Korean 김 or 金 (gim or 金)

Alternative forms

• Gim

Proper noun

Kim

1. , the English form of a surname very common in Korea. (김 (Gim), hanja: 金), the most common Korean surname.

Translations

Korean surname

• Arabic: كِيم (kīm)
• Belarusian: Кім (Kim)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 金 (zh) (Jīn)

• Dutch: Kim (nl)
• French: Kim (fr)
• German: Kim (de)
• Hebrew: קים (he) (kim)
• Hindi: किम (kim)
• Japanese: キム (ja) (Kimu), 金 (ja) (きん, Kin)
• Korean: 김 (Gim) (金 (ko))
• Macedonian: Ким (Kim)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Persian: کیم (kim)
• Portuguese: Kim m or f
• Russian: Ким (ru) (Kim)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Ким

  Roman: Kim

• Spanish: Kim
• Swedish: Kim (sv)
• Ukrainian: Кім (Kim)
• Urdu: کیم (kim)
• Vietnamese: Kim (金 (vi))

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Danish

Proper noun

Kim

1. a diminutive of the male given name Joakim.

References

• [1] Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 34 878 males with the given name Kim have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 1960s. Accessed on 19 June 2011.

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English Kim.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɪm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Kim
• Rhymes: -ɪm
• Homophone: kim

Proper noun

Kim f or m

1. a unisex given name from English.

Anagrams

• mik

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German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Kim

1. a diminutive of the male given name Joachim.
2. a female given name from English, of recent usage.

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Norwegian

Proper noun

Kim

1. a diminutive of the male given name Joakim.

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Swedish

Proper noun

Kim c (genitive Kims)

1. a diminutive of the male given name Joakim.
2. a female given name from English, of recent usage.

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Vietnamese

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 金 (“gold”) (kim (“金”))

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kim˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kim˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [kim˧˧]
• Homophone: kim

Proper noun

Kim

1. a surname from Chinese
2. a female given name from Chinese

See also

• kim