kin
1 of 3noun
ˈkin 
1
: a group of persons of common ancestry : clan
2
a
: one's relatives : kindred
our neighbors and their kin
close kin
b
: kinsman
he wasn't any kin to you
Jean Stafford
Jean Stafford3
archaic : kinship
kin
2 of 3adjective
: kindred, related
-kin
3 of 3noun suffix
kən
variants or less commonly -kins
kənz
: little
catkin
babykins
Synonyms
Noun
- blood
- clan
- family
- folks
- house
- kindred
- kinfolk
- kinfolks
- kinsfolk
- line
- lineage
- people
- race
- stock
- tribe
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Noun They are her distant kin. invited all of his kith and kin to his graduation party
Recent Examples on the Web Claire Vaye Watkins, Outside Online, 15 May 2017 To conduct a next-of-kin notification, a Calaveras County sheriff’s deputy arrived at about 10 a.m. on July 13 at a residence in the 9000 block of Camanche Parkway in Wallace, Stark said. Summer Linstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2022 In Indian Territory, what had been a set of highly varied, sometimes kin-adjacent forms of enslavement began to harden, and Indian attitudes and practices edged closer to those of white Americans. Philip Deloria, The New Yorker, 18 July 2022 Yet as far as sibling resemblance, the Artura seems closer kin to the 819 hp Ferrari 296 GTB. Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 16 July 2022 This was one of the last of the elephant kin in North America. Peter Brannen, The Atlantic, 22 June 2022 Other artistic scions include Devin Allen, Deana Lawson, Dario Calmese, Derrick Adams and, perhaps Parks’s closest creative kin, Jamel Shabazz. Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 9 June 2022 Because if having antibiotics around encourages bacteria to evolve resistance, taking antibiotics away robs them of their superpower…and leaves them a little bit weaker than their non-resistant kin. Karen Hopkin, Scientific American, 8 June 2022 By contrast, the French word for scarcity, rareté, has so many acoustic kin that an English rhymester could weep, with engagé, écarté, and retardé leading the pack. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 23 May 2022 See More
Noun
Beyond these, solitary Joshuas beckon, perhaps forgotten and celibate, no mate or any other kin as far as the eye can see. Claire Vaye Watkins, Outside Online, 15 May 2017 To conduct a next-of-kin notification, a Calaveras County sheriff’s deputy arrived at about 10 a.m. on July 13 at a residence in the 9000 block of Camanche Parkway in Wallace, Stark said. Summer Linstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2022 In Indian Territory, what had been a set of highly varied, sometimes kin-adjacent forms of enslavement began to harden, and Indian attitudes and practices edged closer to those of white Americans. Philip Deloria, The New Yorker, 18 July 2022 Yet as far as sibling resemblance, the Artura seems closer kin to the 819 hp Ferrari 296 GTB. Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 16 July 2022 This was one of the last of the elephant kin in North America. Peter Brannen, The Atlantic, 22 June 2022 Other artistic scions include Devin Allen, Deana Lawson, Dario Calmese, Derrick Adams and, perhaps Parks’s closest creative kin, Jamel Shabazz. Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 9 June 2022 Because if having antibiotics around encourages bacteria to evolve resistance, taking antibiotics away robs them of their superpower…and leaves them a little bit weaker than their non-resistant kin. Karen Hopkin, Scientific American, 8 June 2022 By contrast, the French word for scarcity, rareté, has so many acoustic kin that an English rhymester could weep, with engagé, écarté, and retardé leading the pack. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 23 May 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English, from Old English cynn; akin to Old High German chunni race, Latin genus birth, race, kind, Greek genos, Latin gignere to beget, Greek gignesthai to be born
Adjective
attributive use of kin entry 1
Noun suffix
Middle English, from Middle Dutch -kin; akin to Old High German -chīn, diminutive suffix
First Known Use
Noun
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Adjective
1597, in the meaning defined above
Phrases Containing kin
Kids Definition
kin 1 of 2
noun
ˈkin
1
: a person's relatives
2
: kinsman
-kin
2 of 2noun suffix
kən
variants also -kins
kənz
: little
lambkin
Legal Definition
kin
noun
: one's relatives
kins
noun
1
as in families
a group of persons who come from the same ancestor invited all of his kith and kin to his graduation party Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- families
- tribes
- clans
- houses
- kinfolks
- people
- folks
- kinsfolk
- descendants
- races
- lineages
- kindreds
- dynasties
- blood
- stocks
- descendents
- households
- relatives
- kinsmen
- lines
- kinswomen
- offspring
- scions
- extended families
- blended families
- clansmen
- broods
- seeds
- nuclear families
- offsprings
- progenies
- kiths
- issues
- seed
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- origins
- pedigrees
- births
- descents
- ancestries
- extractions
2
as in cousins
a person connected with another by blood or marriage since she did not appear to be kin to either side, we've no idea what she was doing at the wedding Synonyms & Similar Words
- cousins
- relatives
- kinsmen
- relations
- families
- folks
- folk
- people
- kinswomen
- kinsfolk
- tribes
- in-laws
- kinfolks
- clans
- kindreds
- houses
- blood
- races
- lineages
- stocks
- kissing cousins
- lines
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- nonrelatives