kick

See also: Kick

English

Pronunciation

enPR: kĭk, IPA^(key): /kɪk/, [kʰɪk]
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɪk

Etymology 1

From Middle English kyken (“to strike out with the foot”), from Old Norse kikna (“to sink at the knees”) and keikja (“to bend backwards”) (compare Old Norse keikr (“bent backwards, the belly jutting forward”)), from Proto-Germanic *kaikaz (“bent backwards”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *kī-, *kij- (“to split, dodge, swerve sidewards”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeyH- (“to sprout, shoot”). Compare also Dutch kijken (“to look”), Middle Low German kīken (“to look, watch”). See keek.

Verb

kick (third-person singular simple present kicks, present participle kicking, simple past and past participle kicked)

(transitive) To strike or hit with the foot or other extremity of the leg.
Did you kick your brother?
- 1895, George MacDonald, Lilith, Chapter XII: Friends and Foes,
  I was cuffed by the women and kicked by the men because I would not swallow it.
- 1905, Fielding H. Yost, Football for Player and Spectator, Chapter 6,
  A punt is made by letting the ball drop from the hands and kicking it just before it touches the ground.
- 1919, Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio, "The Teacher: concerning Kate Swift,"
  Will Henderson, who had on a light overcoat and no overshoes, kicked the heel of his left foot with the toe of the right.
- 2020 September 9, Jason Chamberlain, “The growing likelihood of a 'different type of railway'”, in Rail, page 45:
  Or to put it in the more colourful language of our Prime Minister: "The secret to improving rail transport, in my view, is you need to find the right arse to kick." Unfortunately, since the abolition of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) in 2005, the DfT has ostensibly been in direct control of railway policy setting, and this has meant that the only arse the government has been able to kick is its own.
(intransitive) To make a sharp jerking movement of the leg, as to strike something.
He enjoyed the simple pleasure of watching the kickline kick.
- 1877, Anna Sewell, “Chapter 1: My Early Home”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], OCLC 228733457:
  Sometimes we had rather rough play, for they would frequently bite and kick as well as gallop.
- 1904, Stratemeyer Syndicate, The Bobbsey Twins, Chapter II: Rope Jumping, and What Followed,
  "If you did that, I'd kick," answered Freddie, and began to kick real hard into the air.
(transitive) To direct to a particular place by a blow with the foot or leg.
Kick the ball into the goal.
- 1905, Fielding H. Yost, Football for Player and Spectator, Chapter 7,
  Sometimes he can kick the ball forward along the ground until it is kicked in goal, where he can fall on it for a touchdown.
(with "off" or "out") To eject summarily.
- 1936 October, Robert E. Howard, The Conquerin' Hero of the Humbolts, published in Action Stories
  "He's been mad at me ever since I fired him off'n my payroll. After I kicked him off'n my ranch he run for sheriff, and the night of the election everybody was so drunk they voted for him by mistake, or for a joke, or somethin', and since he's been in office he's been lettin' the sheepmen steal me right out of house and home."
- 1976 February 3, Bill Gates, An Open Letter to Hobbyists,
  They are the ones who give hobbyists a bad name, and should be kicked out of any club meeting they show up at.
- 1992, Sir Mix-a-Lot (lyrics), Rick Rubin and Sir Mix-a-Lot (music), “Baby Got Back”, in Mack Daddy, Def American Recordings:
  Dial 1-900-Mix-a-Lot and kick them nasty thoughts.
(intransitive, Internet) To forcibly remove a participant from an online activity.
He was kicked from the IRC server for flooding.
(transitive, slang) To overcome (a bothersome or difficult issue or obstacle); to free oneself of (a problem).
I still smoke, but they keep telling me to kick the habit.
To move or push suddenly and violently.
He was kicked sideways by the force of the blast.
- 2011, Tom Andry, Bob Moore: No Hero
  The back of the car kicked out violently, forcing me to steer into the slide and accelerate in order to maintain control.
(of a firearm) To recoil; to push by recoiling.
- 2003, Jennifer C. D. Groomes, The Falcon Project, page 174,
  Lying on the ground, when fired, it kicked me back a foot. There was no way a person my size was going to be able to do an effective job with this gun.
- 2006, Daniel D. Scherschel, Maple Grove, page 81,
  I asked my sister Jeanette if she wanted to shoot the 12 ga. shotgun. She replied, "does it kick"?
(chess, transitive) To attack (a piece) in order to force it to move.
(intransitive, cycling) To accelerate quickly with a few pedal strokes in an effort to break away from other riders.
Contador kicks again to try to rid himself of Rasmussen.
(intransitive) To show opposition or resistance.
(printing, historical) To work a press by impact of the foot on a treadle.
(computing, transitive) To reset (a watchdog timer).
- 1999, Michael Barr, Programming Embedded Systems in C and C++ (page 98)
  In the meantime, it is possible for the embedded software to “kick” the watchdog timer, to reset its counter to the original large number.
- 2012, Tarek Sobh, ‎Khaled Elleithy, Emerging Trends in Computing, Informatics, Systems Sciences, and Engineering (page 763)
  From now on the process has to periodically kick the watchdog timer in intervals shorter than the initialization interval.
(reflexive, informal) To reproach oneself for making a mistake or missing an opportunity.
He's still kicking himself for not investing three years ago.
Synonyms: beat oneself up, live to regret

Conjugation

Conjugation of kick

infinitive	(to) kick
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	kick	kicked
2nd-person singular	kick, kickest^†	kicked, kickedst^†
3rd-person singular	kicks, kicketh^†	kicked
plural	kick	kicked

subjunctive	kick	kicked

imperative	kick	—

participles	kicking	kicked

^†Archaic or obsolete.

Descendants

→ German: kicken
→ Welsh: cicio

Translations

strike with or raise the foot or leg

Afrikaans: skop (af)
Ainu: オテッテㇾケ (otetterke), オテㇾケ (oterke)
Arabic: رَفَسَ‎ (rafasa), رَكَلَ‎ (rakala)
Egyptian Arabic: رفس‎ (rafas)
Hijazi Arabic: شات‎ (šāt), رفس‎ (rafas)
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Assamese: লথিয়া (lothia), গুৰিয়া (guria)
Belarusian: шту́рхаць impf (štúrxacʹ), штурхну́ць pf (šturxnúcʹ)
Brunei Malay: tandang, sipak
Bulgarian: ри́там (bg) impf (rítam)
Burmese: ကန် (my) (kan)
Catalan: donar un cop de peu, donar una puntada (de peu), xutar (ca) (sports), tustar (ca)
Cebuano: sipa
Chinese:
Cantonese: 踢 (tek³)
Hakka: 踢 (thet)
Mandarin: 踢 (zh) (tī), 蹴 (zh) (cù), 趵 (zh) (bō) (literary), 踆 (zh) (cūn) (literary), 踶 (zh) (dì) (literary), 蹄 (zh) (dì) (literary)
Min Nan: 踢 (zh-min-nan) (that)
Czech: kopat (cs) impf, kopnout (cs) pf
Danish: sparke
Dutch: schoppen (nl), stampen (nl) (Belgium), trappen (nl)
Esperanto: piedbati
Finnish: potkaista (fi) (once), potkia (fi) (continuously)
French: donner un coup de pied à, botter (fr)
Galician: patear (gl)
Georgian: ფეხის კვრა (pexis ḳvra), წიხლის კვრა (c̣ixlis ḳvra), პანღური (ṗanɣuri), პანჩური (ṗančuri)
German: treten (de), kicken (de)
Greek: κλοτσώ (el) (klotsó)
Ancient: λακτίζω (laktízō)
Hebrew: בָּעַט‎ (he) (ba'át)
Higaonon: sinipa
Hungarian: rúg (hu)
Icelandic: sparka (is), sparka í
Indonesian: tendang (id), menendang (id)
Irish: ciceáil
Italian: calciare (it)
Japanese: 蹴る (ja) (ける, keru), キックする (kikku suru)
Kazakh: тебу (kk) (tebu)
Khmer: ទាត់ (km) (tŏət) (with the toe), កែង (kaeng-) (with the heel), ធាក់ (km) (thĕək) (with the sole of the foot)
Korean: 차다 (ko) (chada)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: شەق لێدان‎ (ku) (şeq lêdan)
Kyrgyz: тебүү (ky) (tebüü)
Lao: ເຕະ (te)
Latin: calcitrō
Latvian: spert, spārdīt, spārdīties
Lithuanian: spirti, spardyti, spardytis
Macedonian: клоца impf (kloca), клоцне pf (klocne)
Malay: sepak (ms), tendang (ms)
Manchu: ᡶᡝᠰᡥᡝᠯᡝᠮᠪᡳ (feshelembi)
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Norman: co-d'piêter, codpîser
Norwegian: sparke (no)
Old English: spornan
Oromo: dhiituu
Persian: لگد زدن‎ (lagad zadan)
Polish: kopać (pl) impf, kopnąć (pl) pf
Portuguese: chutar (pt)
Quechua: hayt'ay
Romanian: șuta (ro), lovi cu piciorul
Russian: пина́ть (ru) impf (pinátʹ), пнуть (ru) pf (pnutʹ), ляга́ть (ru) impf (ljagátʹ), лягну́ть (ru) pf (ljagnútʹ)
Sardinian: calchidare
Scottish Gaelic: breab
Shan: ပိတ်ႉ (shn) (pḭ̂t)
Sicilian: cauciari (scn), dari na pidata
Slovak: kopať impf, kopnúť pf
Slovene: brcniti (sl)
Sotho: raha (st)
Spanish: dar una patada, dar un puntapié, patear (es)
Swedish: sparka (sv)
Tagalog: sipain
Tausug: sipa
Telugu: తన్ను (te) (tannu)
Thai: เตะ (th) (dtè)
Tok Pisin: kik
Turkish: tekmelemek (tr)
Ukrainian: штовха́ти impf (štovxáty), штовхну́ти pf (štovxnúty) (ного́ю; нога́ми), ко́пати impf (kópaty), ко́пнути pf (kópnuty)
Vietnamese: đá (vi)
Welsh: cicio (cy)

direct to a particular place by a blow with the foot or leg

Bulgarian: ри́там (bg) impf (rítam)
Catalan: xutar (ca) (sports)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 踢 (thek³)
Hakka: 踢 (thet)
Mandarin: 踢 (zh) (tī), 蹴 (zh) (cù)
Min Nan: 踢 (zh-min-nan) (that)
Czech: kopat (cs) impf, kopnout (cs) pf
Finnish: potkaista (fi)
French: faire + verb phrase + en lui donnant un coup de pied
Georgian: ჭიტლაყი (č̣iṭlaq̇i), პანღური (ṗanɣuri)
German: schießen (de)
Icelandic: sparka (is), sparka í
Indonesian: menendang (id), menyepak (id)
Irish: ciceáil
Japanese: 蹴る (ja) (ける, keru)
Kazakh: тебу (kk) (tebu)
Norwegian: sparke (no)
Polish: kopać (pl) impf, kopnąć (pl) pf
Portuguese: chutar (pt)
Russian: пина́ть (ru) impf (pinátʹ), пнуть (ru) pf (pnutʹ), ляга́ть (ru) impf (ljagátʹ), лягну́ть (ru) pf (ljagnútʹ) (a horse especially)
Scottish Gaelic: breab
Swedish: sparka (sv)
Tok Pisin: kik
Ukrainian: вдаря́ти impf (vdarjáty), ударя́ти impf (udarjáty), вда́рити pf (vdáryty), уда́рити pf (udáryty)

to remove a participant from an online activity

Bulgarian: изри́твам (bg) impf (izrítvam)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 踢 (zh) (tī), 踢出 (zh) (tīchū), 移出 (zh) (yíchū)
Finnish: poistaa (fi), potkaista (fi), potkia (fi), heittää ulos
French: kicker (fr)
German: herauswerfen
Hebrew: העיף‎ m (he'if)
Icelandic: sparka út, sparka út af
Italian: kickare
Portuguese: kickar
Turkish: atmak (tr)
Ukrainian: виганя́ти impf (vyhanjáty), ви́гнати pf (výhnaty), кі́кати impf (kíkaty) (slang), кі́кнути pf (kíknuty) (slang)

reproach oneself

Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: soimata itseään
French: s'en mordre les doigts (fr)
German: sich in den Hintern beißen
Ngazidja Comorian: udjitswa, udjitsa
Polish: pluć sobie w brodę (pl) impf
Russian: вини́ть себя́ (vinítʹ sebjá), занима́ться самобичеванием (zanimátʹsja samobičevanijem)
Ukrainian: не знахо́дити собі́ мі́сця impf (ne znaxódyty sobí míscja)

Noun

kick (plural kicks)

A hit or strike with the leg, foot or knee.
A kick to the knee.
- 1890, Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives, Chapter VII: A Raid on the Stable-Beer Dives,
  A kick of his boot-heel sent the door flying into the room.
- 2011, Phil McNulty, Euro 2012: Montenegro 2-2 England
  Elsad Zverotic gave Montenegro hope with a goal with the last kick of the first half - and when Rooney was deservedly shown red by referee Wolfgang Stark, England were placed under pressure they could not survive.
The action of swinging a foot or leg.
The ballerina did a high kick and a leap.
(colloquial) Something that tickles the fancy; something fun or amusing.
I finally saw the show. What a kick!
I think I sprained something on my latest exercise kick.
(Internet) The removal of a person from an online activity.
(figuratively) Any bucking motion of an object that lacks legs or feet.
The car had a nasty kick the whole way.
The pool ball took a wild kick, up off the table.
(uncountable and countable) Piquancy.
- 2002, Ellen and Michael Albertson, Temptations, Fireside, →ISBN, page 124 :
  Add a little cascabel pepper to ordinary tomato sauce to give it a kick.
- 2003, Sheree Bykofsky; Megan Buckley, Sexy City Cocktails‎, Adams Media, →ISBN, page 129:
  For extra kick, hollow out a lime, float it on top of the drink, and fill it with tequila.
- 2007 August 27, Anthony Lane, "Lone Sailors", The New Yorker, volume 83, Issues 22-28
  The first time I saw "Deep Water," the trace of mystery in the Crowhurst affair gave the movie a kick of excitement.
A stimulation provided by an intoxicating substance.
(soccer) A pass played by kicking with the foot.
(soccer) The distance traveled by kicking the ball.
a long kick up the field.
The recoil of a gun.
(informal) A pocket.[1]
- 1946, Mezz Mezzrow; Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues, New York: Random House, page 44:
  Some nights I’d try my luck in the crap game and wind up with a grand or more in my kick.
  
  1952, George Mandel, Flee the Angry Strangers, Bobs-Merrill, page 383:
  Her mind couldn’t lose sight of […]the bloodied nickel plated pistol Angie had in his kick.
  
  2008, P.G.Wodehouse, The Adventures of Sally (Volume 2 of 2), ReadHowYouWant.com, page 277:
  Swell shows all of ‘em, except this last one.[…]Set me back two-seventy-five, including tax, and I wish I’d got it in my kick right now.
  
  2008, Loren D. Estleman, Port Hazard:A Page Murdock Novel, Tom Doherty Associates:
  If you keep Nan’s advice you’ll keep it in your kick.
  
  2012, Max Brand (Frederick Schiller Faust), Silvertip’s Trap, Adams Media:
  You take that and put it in your kick. I’ve had plenty of cash out of you already.
An increase in speed in the final part of a running race.
(film, television) Synonym of kicker (“backlight positioned at an angle”)

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:kick.

Descendants

→ German: Kick
→ Irish: cic

Translations

hit or strike with the leg or foot

Arabic: رَكْلَة‎ (rakla)
Assamese: লাথ (lath), গুৰি (guri)
Bulgarian: ритни́к (bg) m (ritník)
Burmese: please add this translation if you can
Catalan: puntada (ca) f, puntada de peu f, guitza (ca) f (of an animal), coça (ca) f (of an animal), xut (ca) m (sports)
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Czech: kop (cs) m
Danish: spark n
Dutch: schop (nl) m, trap (nl) m, stamp (nl) m (Belgium)
Faroese: spark n
Finnish: potku (fi)
French: coup de pied (fr), botter (fr)
Galician: patada f, couce (gl) f
Georgian: ჭიტლაყი (č̣iṭlaq̇i), პანღური (ṗanɣuri)
Greek:
Ancient Greek: λάκτισμα n (láktisma)
Hebrew: בעיטה‎ (he) f
Icelandic: spark (is) n
Indonesian: tendangan (id)
Irish: cic m, speach f
Italian: calcio (it) m, piedata f, colpo di piede m
Khmer: please add this translation if you can
Korean: 차기 (ko) (chagi)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: شەق‎ (ku) (şeq), لەقە‎ (ku) (leqe)
Latvian: spēriens m
Lithuanian: spyris m
Macedonian: клоца f (kloca)
Malay: sepakan (ms), tendangan (ms)
Ngazidja Comorian: nɗaru class 9/10
Norwegian:
Bokmål: spark n
Nynorsk: spark n
Occitan: reguitnada (oc) f
Persian: لگد‎ (fa) (lagad)
Polish: kopnięcie (pl) n, wykop (pl) m, kop (pl) m (colloquial)
Romanian: șut (ro) n, lovitură cu piciorul f
Portuguese: chute (pt) m, pontapé (pt) m, coice (pt) m (from a quadruped animal)
Quechua: hayt'a
Russian: пино́к (ru) m (pinók)
Scottish Gaelic: breab c
Slovene: brca (sl) f
Spanish: patada (es) f, puntapié (es) m, coz (es) f (of an animal)
Swedish: spark (sv) n
Telugu: తాపు (te) (tāpu)
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Ukrainian: копня́к m (kopnják)
Urdu: لات‎
Vietnamese: đòn đá, cú đá

action of swinging a foot or leg

Bulgarian: ри́тане (bg) n (rítane)
Finnish: potku (fi)
Norwegian: spark
Swedish: spark (sv)
Ukrainian: уда́р (uk) m (udár), вдар m (vdar)

colloquial: something fun or amusing

Bulgarian: удоволствие (bg) (udovolstvie)
Dutch: kick (nl) m
Swedish: kick (sv)
Ukrainian: сміхота́ f (smixotá), весе́лощі pl (vesélošči)

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun or verb kick

axe kick
banana kick
bicycle kick
butterfly kick
crescent kick
drop kick, dropkick
flying kick
for kicks
free kick
get a kick out of
hook kick
kecks
kick about
kick against the pricks
kick around
kick arse
kick ass, kickass
kick at the can
kick at the cat
kick back, kickback
kickban (Internet)
kickboxing
kick butt
kicker
kickflip
kick in
kick in the pants
kick in the teeth
kick it
kick like a mule
kick motor, kickmotor
kick off (verb)
kick-off (noun)
kick one's heels
kick out
kick over
kick over the traces
kick someone when they are down
kickstand
kick start
kick the bucket
kick the can, kick-the-can
kick the can down the road
kick the habit
kick to the curb
kick up
kick up one's heels
kick upstairs
kick up the arse/kick up the ass/kick up the backside/kick up the butt
kick wheel
kicks
on a kick
overhead kick
roundhouse kick
scissor kick, scissors kick
showtime kick
sidekick
wheel kick

Etymology 2

Shortening of kick the bucket.

Verb

kick (third-person singular simple present kicks, present participle kicking, simple past and past participle kicked)

(intransitive) To die.
- 2005, Melissa L. Rossi, What every American should know about who's really running the world‎, page 211:
  Who knows what will happen to his billions when the eighty-five-year-old kicks, but before he leaves the planet, Moon reportedly is hell-bent on creating a holy land in North Korea, dedicated to him.

Etymology 3

Shortening of kick ass

Verb

kick (third-person singular simple present kicks, present participle kicking, simple past and past participle kicked)

(slang, intransitive) To be emphatically excellent.
That band really kicks.

References

kick at OneLook Dictionary Search

Eric Partridge (2013), “kick”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume I–II, 2nd edition, Abingdon, Oxon.; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1318.

Chinese

Etymology

Irregular romanisation of 撠 (kik1), influenced by spelling of English kick. Not related to English kick semantically.

Pronunciation

Cantonese (Jyutping): kik¹

Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: kik¹
  - Yale: kīk
  - Cantonese Pinyin: kik⁷
  - Guangdong Romanization: kig¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰɪk̚⁵/

Verb

kick

(Hong Kong Cantonese) Alternative form of 撠 (kik1).
- 自此我開始明白，點解啲細路仔响波波池玩成日都咁易kick親跌低。 [Cantonese, trad.]
  自此我开始明白，点解啲细路仔响波波池玩成日都咁易kick亲跌低。 [Cantonese, simp.]
  From: 2019, 離奇家遮, 口耳相傳的香港鬼故事III——冥冥。註定, page 38
  zi⁶ ci² ngo⁵ hoi¹ ci² ming⁴ baak⁶, dim² gaai² di¹ sai³ lou⁶ zai² hoeng² bo¹ bo¹ ci⁴ waan² seng⁴ jat⁶ dou¹ gam³ ji⁶ kik¹ can¹ dit³ dai¹. [Jyutping]
  From then on I started to understand why kids always trips and falls when playing in a ball pit.
- 當我有時喺J家入面行行黎行去，踢到呢度kick親嗰度，我就好想發憫兼心諗「點解可以咁迫㗎！？」 [Cantonese, trad.]
  当我有时喺J家入面行行黎行去，踢到呢度kick亲嗰度，我就好想发悯兼心谂“点解可以咁迫㗎！？” [Cantonese, simp.]
  From: 2020, Systech-publications, 我係阿二，So What？！, page 90
  dong¹ ngo⁵ jau⁵ si⁴ hai² zei¹ gaa¹ jap⁶ min⁶ haang⁴ haang⁴ lai⁴ haang⁴ heoi³, tek³ dou² ni¹ dou⁶ kik¹ can¹ go² dou⁶, ngo⁵ zau⁶ hou² soeng² faat³ mang² gim¹ sam¹ nam² “dim² gaai² ho² ji⁵ gam³ baak¹ gaa³!?” [Jyutping]
  Sometimes when I was walking around at J's home, kicking and tripping over here and there, I become impatient, wondering "Why could this become so crowded!?"
- Agnes立即問他發生甚麼事，Chris笑著說道：「只係唔小心畀樓梯kick親，哈哈哈！」 [Cantonese, trad.]
  Agnes立即问他发生什么事，Chris笑著说道：“只系唔小心畀楼梯kick亲，哈哈哈！” [Cantonese, simp.]
  From: 2022, Systech-publications, 香港猛鬼都市怪談傳說, page 76
  Agnes laap⁶ zik¹ man⁶ taa¹ faat³ sang¹ sam⁶ mo¹ si⁶, Chris siu³ zoek³ syut³ dou³: “Zi² hai⁶ m⁴ siu² sam¹ bei² lau⁴ tai¹ kik¹ can¹, haa¹ haa¹ haa¹!” [Jyutping]
  Agnes immediately asked Chris what has happened, and he said with a smile, "It was just me tripping over the stairs, haha!"

Dutch

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kɪk/
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -ɪk

Etymology 1

Borrowing from English kick.

Noun

kick m (plural kicks)

kick, thrill (something that excites or gives pleasure)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

kick

first-person singular present indicative of kicken
imperative of kicken

German

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [kɪk]
Rhymes: -ɪk

Verb

kick

singular imperative of kicken
(colloquial) first-person singular present of kicken

[1] Eric Partridge (2013), “kick”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume I–II, 2nd edition, Abingdon, Oxon.; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1318.