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kidney

Pronunciation: /ˈkɪdni/

The English word “kidney” has 4 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. An organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine.
  2. This organ (of an animal) cooked as food.
  3. Constitution, temperament, nature, type, character, disposition. (usually used of people)
  4. A waiter.

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.