What does kissed mean?
Kissed is the simple past tense and past participle of the verb kiss. It describes a completed action: one person pressed their lips to another person or to an object, usually to express affection, tenderness, greeting, apology, or farewell. The word can be transitive, as in “She kissed her mother,” or intransitive, as in “They kissed at the door.” It is not limited to romantic encounters; people kiss relatives, friends, pets, or even a football after a victory. Because kissed is an inflected form rather than an independent noun or adjective, it normally appears in a past-tense sentence or with a form of “have,” “had,” or another auxiliary. Its tone depends on context: it can sound tender and intimate, warm and familial, playful, or ceremonially traditional. The pronunciation /kɪst/ is the same in standard British and American English.
verb (past tense and past participle)Kissed is the past tense and past participle of kiss. It means that someone touched another person or something with the lips, usually as a gesture of affection, greeting, tenderness, or farewell.
- To give a kiss to someone or something.
"They exchanged a few words, smiled, and kissed."
"She kissed the child goodbye at the gate."
"The champion kissed her family after the final whistle."
Kissing may look modern, but Old English was already doing it: cyssan is the pre-Conquest ancestor of kiss.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does kissed come from?
The verb kiss descends from Old English cyssan, “to kiss,” which is related to Old Norse kyssa and to other Germanic forms in the same language family. Its modern past tense and past participle, kissed, were formed with the regular English -ed ending; the final /t/ reflects that ending after the unvoiced /s/. The same Germanic root underlies cognates such as German Kuss and Dutch kus.
Related word forms
How kissed is actually used
The word is standard in both formal and informal English and may refer to romantic, affectionate, familial, ceremonial, or playful kisses. It is used transitively and intransitively.
Easily confused with kissed
Missed means failed to reach, attend, achieve, or notice something, whereas kissed refers to the completed action of giving a kiss.