kinsman
Americannoun
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a blood relative, especially a male.
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a relative by marriage.
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a person of the same nationality or ethnic group.
noun
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a blood relation or a relation by marriage
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a member of the same race, tribe, or ethnic stock
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of kinsman
First recorded in 1100–50, kinsman is from late Old English cinnes man. See kin, 's 1, man
Explanation
Your kinsman is your family member — someone who's related to you. Even if you don't know your second cousin very well, he's still your kinsman. The noun kinsman can refer to any blood relation or ancestor, especially those who are male. You can also use kinswoman to talk about female relatives. The word is a formal one that you might come across in an anthropology textbook or a family history: "The first kinsman to leave England came on the Mayflower." Kinsman comes in part from kin, with its Old English root cynn, or "family."
Vocabulary lists containing kinsman
Twelfth Night
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The Merchant of Venice
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"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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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.
See Examples For:
De la Espriella’s ideological kinsman, Argentine President Javier Milei, is pushing for more oil output, focusing on his country’s massive Vaca Muerta shale deposit.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
But you here, whom nature made the wisest of all people, should drop your anger and make everyone who fights alongside us at sea a kinsman, a citizen.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2025
But the boy survived, recovered from his wounds, and with a small company headed for Russia, traveled up the Neva River to Lake Ladoga and then on to Kiev, where his kinsman Prince Yaroslav ruled.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 21, 2021
Egil said: ”Tis but my bounden duty, lady, for the sake of Arinbjorn thy kinsman that I go, if Fridgeir thinks this any help to him.’
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2019
He bowed his head for his dead kinsman.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
They then decided to make distinctive marks on their cheeks, "akin to the ones their animals had, which would help them in identifying their kinsmen during battles", Mr Makkuwana says.
From BBC ● May 20, 2022
You could see inequality emerge in the archaeological record with the appearance of temples and palaces, presided over by rulers and their elite kinsmen, and storehouses and workshops, run by administrators and overseers.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2021
She inquired about Arinbjorn, her brother, and other of her kinsmen and friends who had gone to England with Arinbjorn.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2019
He said the Fulani community has lost more than 500 kinsmen since 2012 and more than 20,000 cows to rustlers.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 30, 2018
Father pointed to a box of apples that had been sent down from the north from some of our kinsmen.
From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep
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.
