What’s the Difference Between “Nice” and “Kind”?

Word Smarts ^ | Rachel Gresh

[SeekAndFind]

These complimentary terms are often used interchangeably, but they carry distinct meanings. Knowing the difference can help you choose your words more thoughtfully.

The old adage “cruel to be kind” might sound catchy, but the saying probably should be “cruel to be nice.” Both “kind” and “nice,” by definition, are positive traits, but “nice” often reflects a surface-level politeness motivated by social conformity. Think of holding a door open for someone — it’s a courteous gesture, but the motivation isn’t necessarily rooted in goodwill. You might be thinking, “Hurry up,” while the person walks to the door — so is this actually a sincere act if you’re slightly annoyed by it? There are a few usages of “nice,” but the one we’re talking about means “pleasant; agreeable; satisfactory.”

This definition reveals surface-level intentions of being polite and doing what is needed to maintain the status quo — traits often motivated by societal expectations. By contrast, “kind” means “having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature.” It describes an innate sense of being.

Ethicists at Santa Clara University agree: “The distinguishing factor seems to lie in the motivation of a person or act.”

For example, an act of politeness, such as helping someone who dropped their groceries, might be considered nice, but kindness is more consistent and entails a heartfelt willingness to help over time. In essence, to be nice is an action, while “kind” describes a lasting personality trait.

Looking into the etymology further clarifies this divergence. “Kind” comes from the Old English cynde , meaning “natural” or “innate,” often linked to familial warmth. “Nice,” however, evolved from the Latin nescius (meaning “ignorant”), once used to describe qualities such as carelessness or foolishness before it transformed into its current meaning of “pleasant” by the mid-18th century.

Rest assured, both terms are complimentary today. However, “kind” implies a more genuine nature related to personality, while “nice” often describes polite actions fueled by social obligations, whether authentic or not. These terms can overlap but are not entirely synonymous, so recognizing these nuances can help you be more accurate in your descriptions.

[SauronOfMordor]

To be nice is to behave in ways pleasing to the other person.

To be kind is to behave in ways that benefit the other person’s well being.

Parents often have to be not-nice towards their kids, in order to be kind.

[lee martell]

Nice = The manner
Kind = The intention.

[Ezekiel]

In essence, to be nice is an action, while “kind” describes a lasting personality trait.

Genesis 1

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

The Hebrew word for kindness is chesed [חסד], which is the character trait associated with Abraham.

Perhaps the Ur ("light") of the Chaldees was rooted in superficial niceties -- schmoozing for personal gain, networking.

Urterior motives, so to speak, whereas Abraham was the real deal. Amirite?

Simple to understand, because as AI tells it, it's a phenomenon where a speaker accidentally or habitually substitutes the "r" sound with an "l" sound, or vice versa.

Letter and/or sound swaps --

It's like something straight out of a Christmas Story.

It's funny but no joke, because Chaldees [כַּשְׂדִּים, kasdim, pl. of kesed] is a word play on Chasidim [חֲסִידִים, pl. of chasid which comes from chesed].

The name Chaldeans in the Bible

The name כשדים looks like it is a common Hebrew form to denote a people descended from כשד (Chesed — please see that name for meaning and etymology).

https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Chaldeans.html

Kindness begins with the letter chet:

חָסִיד châçîyd, khaw-seed'; from H2616; properly, kind, i.e. (religiously) pious (a saint):—godly (man), good, holy (one), merciful, saint, (un-) godly.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2623/kjv/wlc/0-1/

“The distinguishing factor seems to lie in the motivation of a person or act.”

Beginning with a... kaf 🗣️ 🗣️:

A people descended from chesed...

כֶּשֶׂד Kesed, keh'-sed; from an unused root of uncertain meaning; Kesed, a relative of Abraham:—Chesed.

These terms can overlap but are not entirely synonymous, so recognizing these nuances can help you be more accurate in your descriptions.

What’s the Difference Between “Nice” and “Kind”?

Be Kinder:

Kinder

Children of Israel:

Matthew 18

1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

[Red Badger]

That explains Switzerland...............

[Tom Tetroxide]

Nice is superficial. Kindness goes way deeper.

[Ezekiel]

That explains Switzerland...............

The emblem of the Red Cross is the Swiss flag with switched colours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Switzerland

The Red Cross flag is the colour-switched version of the Flag of Switzerland, in recognition of "the pioneering work of Swiss citizens in establishing internationally recognized standards for the protection of wounded combatants and military medical facilities".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Red_Cross_and_Red_Crescent_Movement#Red_Cross

Gotta get started somewhere:

[Ezekiel]

"Do not trust in princes, in the Son of Man, who has no salvation."

Boy, coming close after my Kind post!

Where do you think I get this stuff, from the Establishment?

It's not just that there's always a song, there's *always* a toy! 😉 😘

[linMcHlp]

Nice: You sink the putt.

Kind: The airline stewardess, an actual female, a woman, a good soul . . . momentarily pauses and rests her hand on your shoulder, before continuing up / down the isle.

[Celerity]

Relocating from New England to Arkansas taught me the difference.

Those in the North, including new York, are kind. Those in the south are nice.

They’ll have pleasant words, but wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.

[Tom Tetroxide]

You are the first one to respond to my tagline. It is a much more accurate translation from the Hebrew than what most Christian English translations provide.

I put it there to cause people to think at least a little. If Hebrew was taught in our mis-education things would be a little bit different.

[decal]

“Nice” is a city in France.

“Kind” is German for child.

[x]

Somewhere on line there is a video about nice and kind Americans.

Southerners are always kind but not always nice.

Midwesterners are not always kind, but they are nice.

Easterners are neither nice nor kind.

I forget about the Westerners.

It’s not my classification. It’s what the woman on the video says.

[Ezekiel]

If Hebrew was taught in our mis-education things would be a little bit different.

I agree, but it would just get lost in translation if people refuse to be good-natured about it and be open to new perspectives.

It's a language that truly goes beyond as indicated by the very name, but then 'experts' get to arguing about this meaning or that and miss the understanding entirely.

Case in point is the information presented on the grand staff of the sol/soul/sole/sole key, "מפתח סול":

Common mnemonics for the notes on treble clef:

Every Good Boy Does Fine (lines)
F A C E (spaces)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clef

As explained on the Hebrew page for the staff (חמשה, "five"):

.הרווח בין הקווים נקרא בֵּינָה

"The space between the lines is called בינה"

See what I mean? 😇

(BTW, if you add up the "FACE" note names: fa [פה] la [לה] do [דו] mi [מי], they add up to 180, "FACE", פנים, the code for a complete turn around.)

Regarding the sound of silence: crickets are not kosher.

Every Good Boy Does Fine:

At the outset, the Torah connects Jacob with Joseph. Of all his sons specifically Joseph holds the key to not only Jacob's but the family's ission. (sic)

Joseph from the Kabbalistic Perspective

That article has been around for many, many years, yet nobody's ever corrected the "typo". In keeping with the topic (Joseph from the Kabbalistic perspective) --

Of all his sons specifically Joseph holds the key to not only Jacob's but the family's ADMission.

To transcend is not to successfully resist temptation, but to exist in a mindset beyond it. That cougar woman revealed her bad character from the start. There were tells. Not a good look. And sure enough, she became vindictive when she didn't her way.

Perhaps the rest of the help thought they'd gain an advantage by happily and willingly taking the bait, but Joseph wasn't corrupt. Yosef... HaTzaddik

One man's treasure is another man's trash.

I wouldn't be surprised if Joseph was the one responsible for creating the original Universal Hot Crazy Matrix, to kindly help the future generations who would otherwise struggle for the understanding.

[Tom Tetroxide]

Are you familiar with Isaac Mozeson and his word on Hebrew that he calls Edenics?

https://www.facebook.com/www.edenics.org

https://www.facebook.com/isaac.mozeson

[Ezekiel]

No, so thanks for that.

Although.. some years back I'd spent much time at a site with a similar concept. Perhaps it was/is related to the same people. I don't recall the name of it, but it had a distinctive "tree of life" type logo with the letters in the fruit, branches.

I haven't been able to explore https://edenics.fyi/ yet, but this funny detail jumped out:

"The hidden Hebrew in Finnish"

It reminded me of a dream several years ago, where I was a passenger in a plane and the Messiah was the pilot. So don't mind me I'm just going with the memory that was just tripped off.

All the screens on the back of the seats were showing a video of him in the "cockpit", speaking to the passengers in what seemed to be real time, saying he was in Finland.

Of course this was a paradox. Add in that he was not even in a cockpit as seen from the video, but rather in a room full of low bookcases, like a study room or a library. He was addressing the pax from the cockpit that wasn't a cockpit, and saying he was in Finland, as if it were a recorded message but no it was live.

He was standing in front of the kind of dark, polished table one would expect to see at a fine, serious place of quite learning.

I've got it all documented in my notes. I'm just tossing out this related theme.

from the notes, not that the profession was a pilot:

>>> I was on a plane going who knows where, and he was the pilot. Several times he stated his first name, and he was speaking so I heard his voice a lot...
The video was meant to be instructional, but not about flight safety, more pertaining to his own knowledge base of his profession...
...first name repeated a lot, sometimes as a double, and also the place Finland. >>>

Naturally I wondered what did Finland have to do with anything. Not like Finland had been on my mind or in the news. I couldn't even recall when or why Finland would have been on my mind, or in the news.

Sooo... I scanned the wiki page on Finland and nothing got my attention. Finland.. Finnish... finish? The end? The thought trail ended there.

But then the next day, Finland was suddenly in the news for a jihadi knife attacker on the loose. So the news was featuring maps of the town as the story was unfolding, which I took as a cue to look at the place on account of the dream.

As I was moving the mouse around, and clicking on various businesses, "358" kept popping up.

I don't know how I'd missed it, but there was the direct connection to the Messiah and Finland, right on that wiki page:

Calling code +358

I'm typing this before having looked at the info at the link to

"The hidden Hebrew in Finnish"

Suppose I should check it out.

[Ezekiel]

Not much more time tonight for study. I'm only now getting back over to

https://edenics.fyi/

and as it turned out...

When I first went there, I must have been scrolling down just looking for the text on the page. I totally missed the ginormous airplane Red Sea road imagery at the very top. The word "Finnish" alone had triggered the dream memory. No knowledge of that airplane when I wrote the post.

But as you can see at the top of my FRpage, that same imagery has been sitting there for quite a while.

Well now...

"Edenics brings world words back to an Edenic land of meaning."

It goes a long way in explaining:

>>> I was on a plane going who knows where, and he was the pilot. Several times he stated his first name, and he was speaking so I heard his voice a lot...

***

Furthermore, on the fyi page is a short ~ 3 min video about the word "Eucalyptus", linking it to "klipah".

klipah: Here, two days ago:

>>> Some years back I'd checked the etymology, because it might be "good" for hiding something...

...A good concealing as it were. Related English words like crypt, crypto-, apocalypse...

Oh look, here we are! 😐

Actually, the tree name had reminded me of the name "California" as it appears in Hebrew, integrating with the story of its origin. Just to give a general description, the word is quite the visual, portraying spiritual impurity in the literal sense of the Hebrew term for it, and of the black inside, also alluding to Nero, who had been running through some of the posts here on FR, by way of the references to fiddling and so on.

>>>

So to expand on that, you know it when you see it, a shell of letters spelling klipah:

קליפורניה

ורני inside the shell. --->

נירו (the name Nero is actually spelled as נירון, but this is 1. a transliteration from English, 2. nero = "black" in Italian)

נורי, my flame

It goes on. It's always something.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_California

Black could also refer to being burned by fire, and/or suntans (Song 1:5-6).

[Tom Tetroxide]

The Spiritual Significance of 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSvkbayW7Kw

[Ezekiel]

I've followed his site for years, and try to keep up with the classes. I did watch this one when it was posted.

I'm always wandering off the beaten paths, however. In this case, for the number of words stated for Miketz, not being 2025 as documented at the end of the parsha.

Various opinions are out there for how/why it doesn't add up, that the word sum is 2022, hence the discussions trend mainly toward which words were combined or divided over time. I expect you know that; I bring it up because

as I had been bouncing around reading various articles, a certain phasing/theme kept reappearing for obvious reasons -- three missing words.

Never mind all the literal parsing going on for the parsha, the simple subject coming into focus was about three missing words.

Did you ever see the movie "Oscar"?

(Here's the scene. Just a little over a minute, starting at 57:40.)

'Little Antony' opined about Dr. Poole -- the linguistics expert who had big dreams of starting his own school --

Lisa: What makes you think he wants to marry me?

Anthony: Because he loves you passionately. He just told me.

Lisa: But he's never said anything.

Anthony: Ironic, isn't it? A man whose life is devoted to words, and he can't put together the three most important ones.

Lisa: That's so touching.

Anthony: I knew you'd see it my way. Stay right here.

[bert]

Nice can be fake kind

[Ezekiel]

The Spiritual Significance of 2025

A big theme of the parsha is the big family reunion, although it stops short of the dramatic reveal found inside.. ויגש.

As long as you mentioned it...

אני אוהב אותך

= 502 (cursed be Haman, blessed be Mordecai, התאומים ,שמו יוסף ,בשר and so much more)

Like how the Cherubim Brothers are facing each other on the Ark -- it takes at least 2, so put that in

the mix of these numbers.

As far as marriage matches, the key coordinating three word message is

אני אוהבת אותך

= 902 on account of the ending with a tav, like the alef-beit itself.

The give and take thus naturally balances out to 702,

שבת

The movie ended on a double wedding. I love "fiction".