Kindergarten means a garden of children, and Froebel, the inventor of it, or rather, as he would prefer to express it, the discoverer of the method of Nature, meant to symbolize by the name the spirit and plan of treatment. How does the gardener treat his plants? He studies their inpidual natures, and puts them into such circumstances of soil and atmosphere as enable them to grow, flower, and bring forth fruit,-- also to renew their manifestation year after year. [Mann, Horace, and Elizabeth P. Peabody, "Moral Culture of Infancy and Kindergarten Guide," Boston, 1863]
The first one in England was established 1850 by Johannes Ronge, German Catholic priest; in America, 1868, by Elizabeth Peabody of Boston, Mass. Taken into English untranslated, whereas other nations that borrowed the institution nativized the name (Danish börnehave, Modern Hebrew gan yeladim, literally "garden of children"). Sometimes partially anglicized as kindergarden (attested by 1879).来自德语，Kind,小孩，儿童，来自PIE*gene,生育，出生，词源同kin,-er,复数后缀，Garten,花园，词源同garden.即儿童的花园，或一花园的儿童，比喻义要像对待花园里面的花朵一样对待儿童。
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：kindergarten 词源，kindergarten 含义。
该词系德语借用词，字面义相当于英语children's garden，汉语旧译为“幼稚园”，今译为“幼儿园”。这种实施幼儿教育的机构起源于德国，是位名叫Friedrich Froebel (1782 -1852)的德国教育家首创的。1837年他在布朗根堡(Blankenburg)开办了第一所kindergarten，随后又开设训练班培训幼儿教师，并把kindergarten在整个德国推而广之。
kindergarten一词来自德语，其意思为“儿童的花园”，kinder=children（儿童的复数），garten=garden（花园），所以kindergarten相当于英语的children’s garden。
第一个提出该名称的人是德国著名的幼儿教育家弗里德里克·福禄倍尔。他一生潜心研究并致力于发展儿童教育事业。1837年，他在家乡勃兰堡创办了人类有史以来第一所幼儿教育机构。有一天他一边在花园里散步，一边思考怎么命名这个幼儿教育机构。看到花园里满园的鲜花，他突然想到儿童的笑脸就像是盛开的花朵，而幼儿教师就像花园中的园丁一样。于是，他将其命名为kindergarten。从此，kindergarten一词在人类语言的辞海中诞生了。而学童为花朵、教师为园丁的借喻也随之广为传用，直至于今。
kindergarten：['kɪndɚɡɑrtn] n.幼儿园