Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

kinfolk

[kin-fohk]
See more synonyms for kinfolk on Thesaurus.com
plural noun Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S.
  1. relatives or kindred.
Show More
Also kin·folks, kinsfolk.

Origin of kinfolk

1425–75; late Middle English kinnes-folk; see kin, folk
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

tribefamilypeoplehousesiblingrelationfolkmemberextractionaffinitystockclanrelationshipkindredbloodcousinlineageconsanguinityconnectionrace

Examples from the Web for kinfolk

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • His kinfolk hoped that some day he would be President of the Town Board.

    Ade's Fables

    George Ade

  • Anyhow he didn't have any kinfolk in this country, so it don't much matter.

    News Writing

    M. Lyle Spencer

  • I love you faithfully, and if you are still my good Rosalie I am ready to marry you here in the presence of my kinfolk.

    The Memoires of Casanova, Complete

    Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

  • I've heard my grandfather say that our kinfolk, who dwell far to the south beyond the big seawater, have the same custom.

  • Tell your kinfolk and families and friends and neighbors to make bands and hang together.

    The Covered Wagon

    Emerson Hough

British Dictionary definitions for kinfolk

kinfolk

pl n
  1. mainly US and Canadian another word for kinsfolk
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for kinfolk

n.

also kin-folk, 1802, principally American English, but the earliest references are British, from kin (n.) + folk (n.). Kinsfolk is recorded from 1844.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper