kiss

CEFRA2

/kɪs/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To touch someone with your lips as a sign of affection.

  2. 02

    noun

    A touch of the lips showing affection or greeting.

Examples

  • Beth will not allow Chris to kiss her because he is terribly dirty.

  • Come here and give me a kiss!

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. Of two or more people, to touch each other's lips together, usually to express love or affection or passion.

  2. To (cause to) touch lightly or slightly; to come into contact.

  3. To touch with the lips or press the lips against, usually to show love or affection or passion, or as part of a greeting.

More examples

In context

  • I never see her without wanting to kiss her.

  • His ball kissed the black into the corner pocket.

  • The nearside of the car just kissed a parked truck as he took the corner at high speed.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Before leaving for work, he gave his wife a gentle blank on the cheek.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English kissen, kussen, from Old English cyssan (“to kiss”), from Proto-West Germanic *kussijan, from Proto-Germanic *kussijaną (“to kiss”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian küsje, Dutch kussen, German Low German küssen, German küssen, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål kysse, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish kyssa. Compare Proto-Indo-European *ku-, *kus- (probably imitative), with byspels including Ancient Greek κύσσω (kússō), poetic form of κύσω (kúsō, “to kiss”), and Hittite [script needed] (kuwassanzi, “they kiss”).