kit

• IPA^(key): /kɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt

From Middle English kyt, kytt, kytte, from Middle Dutch kitte (“a wooden vessel made of hooped staves”). Related to Dutch kit (“tankard”) (see below). The further etymology is unknown. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *kitjō-, *kut-, which would be related to the root of Dutch kot (“ramshackle house”), itself of non-Indo-European origin.^[1]

The transfer of meaning to the contents of a soldier's knapsack dates to the late 18th century, extended use of any collection of necessaries used for travelling dates to the first half of the 19th century. The further widening of the sense to a collection of parts sold for the buyer to assemble emerges in US English in the mid 20th century.

kit (countable and uncountable, plural kits)

1. A circular wooden vessel, made of hooped staves.
2. A kind of basket made especially from straw of rushes, especially for holding fish; by extension, the contents of such a basket or similar container, used as a measure of weight.
   • 1961 18 Jan, Guardian (cited after OED):

     He was pushing a barrow on the fish dock, wheeling aluminium kits which, when full, each contain 10 stone of fish.

3. A collection of items forming the equipment of a soldier, carried in a knapsack.
   • 1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System:

     Dudes! You simply have too much stuff in your kit! But don't sweat it, I can buy some stuff you don't need.

4. Any collection of items needed for a specific purpose, especially for use by a workman, or personal effects packed for travelling.

   Always carry a good first-aid kit.

5. A collection of parts sold for the buyer to assemble.

   I built the entire car from a kit.

6. (UK, sports) The standard set of clothing, accessories and equipment worn by players.
   • 2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph‎^[1]:

     A sell-out crowd of 10,000 then observed perfectly a period of silence before the team revealed their black armbands, complete with stitched-in poppies, for the match. After Fifa’s about-turn, it must have been a frantic few days for the England kit manufacturer. The on-field challenge was altogether more straightforward.

7. (UK, informal) Clothing.

   Get your kit off and come to bed.

   • 2022 December 20, “Topless Argie fan breaks silence with more nude vids as she dodges Qatar's wrath”, in The US Sun‎^[2]:

     The Argentina fan who risked jail by getting her kit off at the World Cup final has broken her silence by posting more topless videos.

8. (computing, informal) A full software distribution, as opposed to a patch or upgrade.
9. (video games) The set of skills and abilities chosen for a playable character.
10. (music) A drum kit.
11. (dated) The whole set; kit and caboodle.
    • 1818, Reports, volume 92, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords, page 82:

      Do you know the proportion between ten and twelve or thirteen? — No; I should suppose you may take the whole kit of them as thirty; and the rest are people at from twenty to forty years of age.

kit (third-person singular simple present kits, present participle kitting, simple past and past participle kitted)

1. (transitive) To assemble or collect something into kits.

   We need to kit the parts for the assembly by Friday, so that manufacturing can build the tool.

2. (transitive) To equip (somebody) with something.

   Synonym: kit out

A short form of kitten and/or kitling. From the 16th century (spelled kytte, kitt). From the 19th century also extended to other young animals (mink, fox, beaver, muskrat, etc.), and to a species of small fox ("kit-fox"). Later usage (for other animals) perhaps influenced by chit.

kit (plural kits)

1. A kitten (young cat).
2. A kit fox.
3. A young fox.
4. A young beaver.
5. A young skunk.
6. A young ferret.
7. A young rabbit.
8. A young weasel

16th century, perhaps from cithara.

kit (plural kits)

1. Synonym of kit violin
   • 1681, Nehemiah Grew, Musæum Regalis Societatis. Or A Catalogue & Description of the Natural and Artificial Rarities Belonging to the Royal Society and Preserved at Gresham Colledge. […], London: […] W. Rawlins, for the author, →OCLC:

     A dancing master's kit.

   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

     Prince Turveydrop then tinkled the strings of his kit with his fingers, and the young ladies stood up to dance.

Borrowed from German kitte, Kütte (“flock of doves”) (circa 1880).

kit (plural kits)

1. A school of pigeons, especially domesticated, trained pigeons.

• ITK, ikt, tik

From Russian кит (kit).

kit

1. whale (Cetacea)

• Mirjejev, V. A., Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎^[3], Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN

From German Kitt (“putty”).

kit n (singular definite kittet, not used in plural form)

1. putty

From English kit (1980).

kit n (singular definite kittet, plural indefinite kit or kits)

1. kit

• Rhymes: -ɪt

Of unknown origin. Possibly borrowed from the dialectal German Kietze (“carrying basket”), from Proto-Germanic *kitjō-. The German word has also appeared as Kötze, from Middle High German *kœzze, from Proto-Germanic *kut-, which would be related to the root of kot (“ramshackle house”), itself of non-Indo-European origin.^[1]

kit f (plural kitten, diminutive kitje n)

1. metal can, used mainly for coal

• kolenkit

Borrowed from German Kitt.

kit f or n (uncountable)

1. sealant

• kitten

Borrowed from English kit.

kit m (plural kits, diminutive kitje n)

1. set of tools

• tik

Borrowed from English kit.

kit m (plural kits)

1. kit (to assemble)

• “kit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

ki +‎ -t

• IPA^(key): [ˈkit]
• Hyphenation: kit

kit

1. accusative singular of ki

   Kit ajánl? ― Whom would you recommend?

   Kit érdekel? ― Who cares?

kit

1. buttocks

   kit tɔm : mouth of the river (literally: buttocks [of the] river)

• Niclas Burenhult, A grammar of Jahai (2005)

• ⲕⲓⲧ (kit)

kit

1. mountain

kít (plural kít)

1. chair

• Crane, Thera, Larry Hyman, Simon Nsielanga Tukumu (2011) A grammar of Nzadi [B.865]: a Bantu language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, →ISBN

• IPA^(key): /ˈkit/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -it
• Syllabification: kit

Borrowed from German Kitt, from Middle High German küt, küte, from Old High German kuti, quiti, kwiti, from Proto-West Germanic *kwidu, from Proto-Germanic *kweduz.

kit m inan

1. putty (form of cement)
2. (slang) lie

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

kit f

1. genitive plural of kita

• kit in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• kit in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English kit.

• Rhymes: -itʃi, -itɨ
• Homophones: quite, kitsch (Brazil)

kit m (plural kits)

1. kit (collection of items needed for a specific purpose)

   Synonym: jogo

2. kit (collection of parts sold for the buyer to assemble)

• kit gay

Borrowed from English kit.

kit n (plural kituri)

1. kit

From Ancient Greek κῆτος (kêtos).

kȉt m (Cyrillic spelling ки̏т)

1. whale

• “kit”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

From Ancient Greek κῆτος (kêtos).

• IPA^(key): /kíːt/

kȋt m anim (female equivalent kȋtovka)

1. whale

From German Kitt (“putty”).

• IPA^(key): /kíːt/

kȋt m inan

1. putty

Borrowed from English kit.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkit/ [ˈkit̪]
• Rhymes: -it
• Syllabification: kit

kit m (plural kits)

1. kit

   Synonym: (kit) equipo

• “kit”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

kit

1. putty

Borrowed from Russian кит (kit), from Ancient Greek κῆτος (kêtos).

kit (definite accusative kidi, plural kitler)

1. whale