I. ˈklan, -aa(ə)n noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Scottish Gaelic clann offspring, clan, akin to Old Irish cland plant, offspring, from Latin planta sprout, cutting — more at plant
1. : a social unit smaller than a tribe and larger than the family and claiming descent from a common ancestor:
a. : a Celtic group especially in the Scottish Highlands comprising a number of households the heads of which claim descent from a common ancestor, bear a common surname, and acknowledge the preeminence of a chief who bears a distinctive title — compare sept , tartan
b. : an exogamous tribal division that traces descent in either the male or the female line from a common real, totemic, or mythological ancestor, that has a common name and often a common territory, and that constitutes the chief political, religious, and social unit of tribal society — used by some ethnologists of such a tribal division tracing descent in the female line only; compare gens , moiety , phratry
2. : a group united by a common trait, qualification, or program and often appearing self-interested, overexclusive, or narrow
a whole clan of cousins, aunts, uncles, and in-laws
a clan of poets
3.
a. : a collection of animals, plants, or inanimate things
b. : a minute ecological community being typically a climax formation covering an area of a few square yards and having a single dominant species
II. intransitive verb
( clanned ; clanned ; clanning ; clans )
: to unite in or as if in a clan : form a clique : gather — used especially with together
the whole family used to clan together at Christmas