kidney

Origin: From , kydeney, alteration of earlier kidenere after ey, of origin and formation. Probably a compound consisting of + . The first element would be from , from , as the terms for testicle and kidney were often interchangeable in Germanic (compare , ); the second is from or , from , from , from . If so, then related to dialectal , , , , , , , , , . An alternate etymology traces the first element to , cwiþa, though the loss of in a stressed syllable is difficult to explain. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).