kit

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A set of items needed for a particular purpose, often kept together.

   Always carry a good first-aid kit.

2. 2
   noun

   A set of parts sold for the buyer to put together.

   I built the entire car from a kit.

3. 3
   noun

   The set of clothing and equipment worn by a sports team or player.

   The team wore their new home kit for the match.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Kit comes from Dutch kitte, meaning “wooden vessel,” and in Middle English denoted a wooden tub before being extended to other containers. Its late eighteenth-century sense “a soldier’s equipment” probably arose from the idea of a collection of articles packed together in one container.

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. 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…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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