clan

American  

[klan] / klæn /

noun

• clans
  plural

1. a group of families or households, as among the Scottish Highlanders, the heads of which claim descent from a common ancestor.

   the Mackenzie clan.

2. a group of people of common descent; family.

   Our whole clan got together for Thanksgiving.

3. a group of people, as a clique, set, society, or party, especially as united by some common trait, characteristic, or interest.

   a clan of actors and directors.

4. Anthropology.

   1. the principal social unit of tribal organization, in which descent is reckoned exclusively in either the paternal or the maternal line.

   2. a group of people regarded as being descended from a common ancestor.

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clan British  

/ klæn /

noun

1. a group of people interrelated by ancestry or marriage

2. a group of families with a common surname and a common ancestor, acknowledging the same leader, esp among the Scots and the Irish

3. a group of people united by common characteristics, aims, or interests

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subclan
  noun
• clanless
  adjective
• interclan
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• clans
  plural

Etymology

Origin of clan

1375–1425; late Middle English ( Scots ) < Scots Gaelic clann < Old Irish cland offspring < Latin planta scion, plant, perhaps directly < British Celtic; compare Welsh plant children

Explanation

A clan is an extended family. Your clan might include your parents and siblings, but also your cousins and second cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. Families that are related to each other, whether through marriage or as distant cousins, are members of the same clan. If you get together with a big family group every summer, you can say you vacation with your clan. In Scotland, a person's clan has a specific name, like "clan MacLachlan." The word comes from the Gaelic clann, "family" or "offspring," with the Latin root planta, "offshoot."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clan clans

The Evans clan has been running cattle on the peninsula for 150 years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

Irish police in 2024 estimated the Kinahan clan to be worth at least 1 billion euros, equivalent to around $1.1 billion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

Before them stood 112 coffins containing bones and fragments of victims from the Abu Sharia and al-Hasayna families, two branches of the same Bedouin clan.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

His people are ancient and few, a clan whose kinship with nature left them vulnerable to warring nobles who all but wiped them out.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

‘My clan is friendly with the Otters. We – we mean you no harm.’

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

Each family picks a co-director to lead the enterprise, an arrangement that has generally maintained harmony between the clans for generations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

Palestinians in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah voted on lists of candidates that were seen as associated with various clans and political groups.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026

"In Corsica the clans are not linked by family ties or rituals of lifelong loyalty, but by simple opportunism," Dominici says.

From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2026

The determination, released Wednesday, is not the final say but signals a possibility that several clans of the iconic cougars will be listed under the California Endangered Species Act.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2025

The first stories are devoted to the fairy clans.

From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish

Related Words

• band
• faction
• gang
• mob
• sect
• society
• tribe