I. ˈkin noun
( plural kin ; see sense 1a )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English cyn; akin to Old High German kind child, chunni family, race, Old Norse kyn, Gothic kuni family, race, Latin genus kind, race, gignere to beget, Greek genea birth, race, family, genos race, kin, kind, gignesthai to be born, Sanskrit janati he begets, jana person
1.
a. plural kins : a group of persons of common ancestry : clan , stock
chiefs of the kins — P.A.Sorokin
b. archaic : lineage , extraction , birth
some one perhaps of gentle kin — Edmund Spenser
2.
a. : one's immediate family : relatives , kindred
an outcast among … the kin of his father — Ruth Benedict
b. : a blood relation : kinsman
he wasn't any kin to you — Jean Stafford
— compare consanguinity
3. obsolete : the quality or state of being related : kinship
without a crime, except his kin to me — John Dryden
4.
a. : a related group : similar kind : ilk
the positivists and their kin — W.V.Quine
b. : one having community of interest or close affinity with another
abstraction and generalization have always been recognized as close kin — John Dewey
•
- of kin
II. adjective
: of the same nature or family : having affinity : kindred , related
Germany … is the kin land of these people of Pennsylvania — G.P.Musselman
III. ˈkīn
chiefly Scotland
variant of kind
IV. ˈkin noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English kyne, kynne, alteration of chin, chine crack, fissure, chasm — more at chine
dialect England : crack , crevice ; specifically : a chap in the skin
V. ˈkin noun
( plural kin )
Etymology: Japanese
: catty
VI. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Chinese (Pekingese) ch'in 2
: an ancient Chinese musical instrument resembling a zither and having from 5 to 25 silk strings — compare koto
VII. ˈjin noun
( -s )
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: Chinese (Pekingese) Chin 1
1. : a Tatar people founding an 11th century dynasty in China and being ancestral to the Manchus
2. : a member of the Kin people