kindergarten

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkɪndəˌɡɑːt(ə)n/ (UK); /ˈkɪndəɹˌɡɑːɹt(ə)n/, /ˈkɪndəɹˌɡɑːɹd(ə)n/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Kindergarten (“children's garden”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from German Kinder (“children”) + Garten (“garden”).^[2][3][4][5] The German word was coined in 1840 by the educator Friedrich Fröbel for his method of developing young children's minds,^[4][7] on the image of a gardener tending plants.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A school for young children taught by Fröbel's method (1852).^[3][4][5][7] Barnhart notes that a kindergarten had been set up in England in 1850 by Johannes Ronge.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word came to mean any school or class for children of about four to six,^[2][5][6] and in the U.S. the school year before first grade.^[1] From 1902 it was also the nickname of a group of young imperialists recruited by Lord Milner in South Africa.^[7] Wiktionary notes that in Britain the word has largely fallen out of use outside specialist schools.^[1]

Timeline

• 1840 – German Kindergarten coined by Fröbel.^[4]
• 1852 – first recorded in English.^[3][4][5][7]
• 1902 – Milner's “kindergarten”.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A school, programme or class for children of about four to six that prepares them for elementary school.
2. In the U.S., the grade before first grade.

Word family

• prekindergarten

Related words

• kindergartner
• kin
• kind
• garden
• nursery

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press