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kinsman

[kinz-muh n]
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noun, plural kins·men.
  1. a blood relative, especially a male.
  2. a relative by marriage.
  3. a person of the same nationality or ethnic group.
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Origin of kinsman

First recorded in 1100–50, kinsman is from the late Old English word cinnes man. See kin, 's1, man1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

agnatecognatesiblingfolkfatherfolkskinswomanmotherbloodcousinconnectionrelationkinsister-in-lawstepparentnephewfather-in-lawsibniecegrandparents

Examples from the Web for kinsmen

Historical Examples

  • Only when they lay dead before him did he remember that they were his own kinsmen.

    Old Greek Folk Stories Told Anew

    Josephine Preston Peabody

  • If ever he was to see her it would be to-night, when her kinsmen had promised to return.

    Murder Point

    Coningsby Dawson

  • They did not scruple, as other Arabs did, to fight against their kinsmen.

    History of Religion

    Allan Menzies

  • So he collected all his kinsmen, and set off to fetch his bride.

    Russian Fairy Tales

    W. R. S. Ralston

  • This being the case it was possible for us to quarrel, like kinsmen.

British Dictionary definitions for kinsmen

kinsman

noun plural -men
  1. a blood relation or a relation by marriage
  2. a member of the same race, tribe, or ethnic stock
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Derived Formskinswoman, fem n
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 kinsmen

kinsman

n.

c.1200, kenesmen, from late Old English cynnes mannum; see kin + man. Kinswoman is recorded from c.1400.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper