kind [OE] In Old English the original senses of kind were ‘nature, the natural order’, and ‘innate character’, which led to our use of the word for ‘a class or type of similar people or things’. Kind is also related to kin [OE] and through it to *king. In medieval times kind was used as an adjective to mean ‘well born’, and the association of good breeding with good manners in turn gave us the familiar meaning of ‘considerate and generous’.