kinfolk
Americanplural noun
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of kinfolk
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English kinnes-folk; see origin at kin, folk
Explanation
Your kinfolk are the people in your family. Even very distant cousins you've never met can be described as your kinfolk. When anthropologists use the term kinfolk, they mean people who are related by blood and share a common ancestor. You can use the word in a much wider way, though, to include people related by marriage and adoption, as well as friends who are so close you consider them part of your family. Kinfolk combines the Old English roots cynn, or "family," and folc, "people."
Vocabulary lists containing kinfolk
The Classical Period, c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE
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2.1: Classical Empires in East Asia (Sources 1–8)
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The Only Black Girls in Town
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Of course, like most Americans, we were paying no attention whatsoever to developments in Sudan before the fighting started — and before we learned that our own kinfolk were in danger.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2023
The story line in “Shucked” is partly a corollary to the real-life relationship between Horn’s Yankee family and his husband’s Southern kinfolk.
From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2023
A pastry chef hosts her kinfolk for the holidays in the new TV movie “A Chestnut Family Christmas.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 28, 2021
This kind of loyalty, however, does not help their well-known kinfolk.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 11, 2021
The little towns, where nobody waved, and the other passengers in the train, with whom I had achieved an almost kinfolk relationship, disappeared into a common strangeness.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
