kind: [OE] Kind the noun and kind the adjective are ultimately the same word, but they split apart in pre-historic times. Their common source was Germanic *kunjam, the ancestor of English kin. From it, using the collective prefix *ga- and the abstract suffix *-diz, was derived the noun *gakundiz, which passed into Old English as gecynde ‘birth, origin, nature, race’.
The prefix ge- disappeared in the early Middle English period. Germanic *gakundiz formed the basis of an adjective, *gakundjaz, which in Old English converged with its source to produce gecynde. It meant ‘natural, innate’, but gradually progressed via ‘of noble birth’ and ‘well-disposed by nature’ to (in the 14th century) ‘benign, compassionate’ (a semantic development remarkably similar to that of the distantly related gentle). => kin
kind (n.)
"class, sort, variety," from Old English gecynd "kind, nature, race," related to cynn "family" (see kin), from Proto-Germanic *kundjaz "family, race," from PIE *gene- "to give birth, beget" (see genus). Ælfric's rendition of "the Book of Genesis" into Old English came out gecyndboc. The prefix disappeared 1150-1250. No exact cognates beyond English, but it corresponds to adjective endings such as Goth -kunds, Old High German -kund. Also in English as a suffix (mankind, etc.). Other earlier, now obsolete, senses in English included "character, quality derived from birth" and "manner or way natural or proper to anyone." Use in phrase a kind of (1590s) led to colloquial extension as adverb (1804) in phrases such as kind of stupid ("a kind of stupid (person)").
kind (adj.)
"friendly, deliberately doing good to others," from Old English gecynde "natural, native, innate," originally "with the feeling of relatives for each other," from Proto-Germanic *kundi- "natural, native," from *kunjam "family" (see kin), with collective prefix *ga- and abstract suffix *-iz. Sense development from "with natural feelings," to "well-disposed" (c. 1300), "benign, compassionate" (c. 1300).
双语例句
1. There is good news of a kind for the Prime Minister.
对总理来说也算是有个好消息。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The army was ideologically opposed to the kind of economic solution proposed.
军方从意识形态角度出发反对所提议的经济方案。
来自柯林斯例句
3. I don't know why he bothers me with this kind of rubbish.
我不明白他为何用这种烂事来烦我。
来自柯林斯例句
4. I also met with Pollack again to kind of shoot the bull.
我也再次和波拉克会面，两人闲聊了会儿。
来自柯林斯例句
5. That's not the kind of talk one usually hears from accountants.
