text: where did the word kids come from?   the word did not come from goats!!! sheesh!  the word for children in german is "kinder". the word for child is "kind".  the english version of this is "kid".   you might notice the resemblance to the word "kindergarten", which actually means children's garden.  i guess originally it was less of a school class and more of a daycare, where children had supervised playing outside under the supervision of a teacher or guardian.  a lot of english words come from the german language, and this is one of them.