Familia

//fəˈmɪlɪə// name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A household or religious community under one head, regarded as a unit. historical

    "Joska's elder brother Phuro was, however, seen as the leader of his familia. As one of the oldest males in the hamlet, with a familia that consisted of sons, bora and sons-in-law, Phuro's position as head of his familia was given by his age and by his authority as father."

  2. 2
    The paterfamilias, his legitimate descendants and their wives, all persons adopted into his family and their wives, and all slaves belonging to the household. Roman
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
familytaxonomy

Example

More examples

"Joska's elder brother Phuro was, however, seen as the leader of his familia. As one of the oldest males in the hamlet, with a familia that consisted of sons, bora and sons-in-law, Phuro's position as head of his familia was given by his age and by his authority as father."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin familia (“family”). Doublet of family.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.