Kin

//kɪn// adj, name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Related by blood or marriage, akin. (It is more common to form sentences using the noun instead.) not-comparable, uncommon

    "It turns out my back-fence neighbor is kin to one of my co-workers."

Adjective
  1. 1
    related by blood wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of Jin. alt-of, alternative, obsolete
  2. 2
    Clipping of Kinshasa. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping
Noun
  1. 1
    Race; family; breed; kind. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    Alternative form of qin (“Chinese string instrument”). alt-of, alternative

    "Originally they had only two cither-like instruments, which had flat sound-boxes without fingerboards, over which were strung rather a large number (25) of strings of twisted silk — the kin and tsche."

  3. 3
    A fictional or non-fictional being whom one spiritually connects to. slang
  4. 4
    Alternative form of k'in. alt-of, alternative
  5. 5
    Clipping of kinesiology. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, colloquial, uncountable
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    group of people related by blood or marriage wordnet
  2. 7
    Persons of the same race or family; kindred. collective, countable, uncountable

    "c. 1620, Francis Bacon, letter of advice to Sir George Villiers You are of kin, and so must be a friend to their persons."

  3. 8
    Someone who identifies as a certain fictional character. slang
  4. 9
    a person having kinship with another or others wordnet
  5. 10
    One or more relatives, such as siblings or cousins, taken collectively. countable, uncountable

    "Among those who derive information related to work from personal contacts, nonkins, rather than kins, constitute the most important sources even for women."

  6. 11
    Relationship; same-bloodedness or affinity; near connection or alliance, as of those having common descent. countable, uncountable

    "Such sensations, however, were too near a kin to resentment to be long guiding Fanny's soliloquies."

Verb
  1. 1
    To identify with; as in spiritually connect to a fictional or non-fictional being. slang, transitive
  2. 2
    Pronunciation spelling of can. alt-of, pronunciation-spelling

    "[Owl:] Oh I ain't stealin' this dime... I just took it for safe-keepin'. [Turtle:] Ain't much you kin do with it—'cept make a phone call."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English kyn, from Old English cynn (“kind, sort, rank”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuni, from Proto-Germanic *kunją (“race, generation, descent”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₁yom, from *ǵenh₁- (“to produce”). Cognate with Scots kin (“relatives, kinfolk”), North Frisian kinn, kenn (“gender, race, family, kinship”), Dutch kunne (“gender, sex”), Middle Low German kunne (“gender, sex, race, family, lineage”), Danish køn (“gender, sex”), Swedish kön (“gender, sex”), Icelandic kyn (“gender”), Finnish kunnia (“honour, glory”), Ingrian kunnia (“reputation”), and through Indo-European, with Latin genus (“kind, sort, ancestry, birth”), Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “kind, race”), Sanskrit जनस् (jánas, “kind, race”), Albanian dhen (“(herd of) small cattle”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English kyn, from Old English cynn (“kind, sort, rank”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuni, from Proto-Germanic *kunją (“race, generation, descent”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₁yom, from *ǵenh₁- (“to produce”). Cognate with Scots kin (“relatives, kinfolk”), North Frisian kinn, kenn (“gender, race, family, kinship”), Dutch kunne (“gender, sex”), Middle Low German kunne (“gender, sex, race, family, lineage”), Danish køn (“gender, sex”), Swedish kön (“gender, sex”), Icelandic kyn (“gender”), Finnish kunnia (“honour, glory”), Ingrian kunnia (“reputation”), and through Indo-European, with Latin genus (“kind, sort, ancestry, birth”), Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “kind, race”), Sanskrit जनस् (jánas, “kind, race”), Albanian dhen (“(herd of) small cattle”).

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Mandarin 琴 (qín), from a non-palatal dialect akin to Peking; or less likely, from Japanese 琴 (kin).

Etymology 4

Clipping of fictionkin.

Etymology 5

Clipping of fictionkin.

Etymology 6

An irregular romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 晉 /晋 (Jìn).

Etymology 7

See Kinshasa

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