rhizoverbBeta
DictionarykinFamily and relatedness
noun / adjective

kin

KIN/kɪn/

People or things related by family, origin, or nature.

Several generations of kin gather around the picnic table.

A multigenerational family gathers around a picnic table, affectionate familiar gestures linking grandparents, parents and children, without formal diagram or text.
Etymology
kinOld Englishfamily, kind, sort

Old English cynn covered both “family” and “kind” or “sort.” Kin preserves the family sense, while the related noun kind reflects the broader idea of a class or group.

In context

Stuart Fernie6:17
the murders of their kin father and son are united by common grief experience and the need for one another
Reflections on characters and themes in Road to Perdition (2002)

More examples

  • They discovered that they were distant kin.
  • The neighbors treated him as kin.
  • The two traditions are kin in origin.

Forms

kin

kinship noun — family relationship or shared nature

Similar words

relatives
The ordinary family members.
kindred
People related by family or similar nature.