kinfolk

/ˌkɪnˈfoʊk/

Other forms: kinfolks

Your kinfolk are the people in your family. Even very distant cousins you've never met can be described as your kinfolk.

When anthropologists use the term kinfolk, they mean people who are related by blood and share a common ancestor. You can use the word in a much wider way, though, to include people related by marriage and adoption, as well as friends who are so close you consider them part of your family. Kinfolk combines the Old English roots cynn, or "family," and folc, "people."

Definitions of kinfolk

1. noun

   people descended from a common ancestor
   synonyms: family, family line, folk, kinsfolk, phratry, sept

   types:

   people

   members of a family line

   homefolk

   the people of your home locality (especially your own family)

   house

   aristocratic family line

   dynasty

   a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family

   gens, name

   family based on male descent

   royal family, royal house, royal line, royalty

   royal persons collectively

   Bourbon, Bourbon dynasty

   a European royal line that ruled in France (from 1589-1793) and Spain and Naples and Sicily

   Capetian dynasty

   a Frankish dynasty founded by Hugh Capet that ruled from 987 to 1328

   Carlovingian dynasty, Carolingian dynasty

   a Frankish dynasty founded by Charlemagne's father that ruled from 751 to 987

   Flavian dynasty

   a dynasty of Roman Emperors from 69 to 96 including Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian

   Han, Han dynasty

   imperial dynasty that ruled China (most of the time from 206 BC to AD 220) and expanded its boundaries and developed its bureaucracy; remembered as one of the great eras of Chinese civilization

   Hanover, Hanoverian line, House of Hanover

   the English royal house that reigned from 1714 to 1901 (from George I to Victoria)

   Habsburg, Hapsburg

   a royal German family that provided rulers for several European states and wore the crown of the Holy Roman Empire from 1440 to 1806

   Hohenzollern

   a German noble family that ruled Brandenburg and Prussia

   House of Lancaster, Lancaster, Lancastrian line

   the English royal house that reigned from 1399 to 1461; its emblem was a red rose

   Liao, Liao dynasty

   the dynasty that ruled much of Manchuria and northeastern China from 947 to 1125

   Merovingian, Merovingian dynasty

   a Frankish dynasty founded by Clovis I that reigned in Gaul and Germany from about 500 to 750

   Ming, Ming dynasty

   the imperial dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644

   Ottoman, Ottoman dynasty

   the Turkish dynasty that ruled the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century to its dissolution after World War I

   Plantagenet, Plantagenet line

   the family name of a line of English kings that reigned from 1154 to 1485

   Ptolemaic dynasty, Ptolemy

   an ancient dynasty of Macedonian kings who ruled Egypt from 323 BC to 30 BC; founded by Ptolemy I and ended with Cleopatra

   Ch'in, Ch'in dynasty, Qin, Qin dynasty

   the Chinese dynasty (from 246 BC to 206 BC) that established the first centralized imperial government and built much of the Great Wall

   Ch'ing, Ch'ing dynasty, Manchu, Manchu dynasty, Qing, Qing dynasty

   the last imperial dynasty of China (from 1644 to 1912) which was overthrown by revolutionaries; during the Qing dynasty China was ruled by the Manchu

   Romanoff, Romanov

   the Russian imperial line that ruled from 1613 to 1917

   Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

   the name of the royal family that ruled Great Britain from 1901-1917; the name was changed to Windsor in 1917 in response to anti-German feelings in World War I

   Seljuk

   any one of the Turkish dynasties that ruled Asia Minor from the 11th to the 13th centuries; they successfully invaded Byzantium and defended the Holy Land against Crusaders

   Shang, Shang dynasty

   the imperial dynasty ruling China from about the 18th to the 12th centuries BC

   Stuart

   the royal family that ruled Scotland from 1371-1714 and ruled England from 1603 to 1649 and again from 1660 to 1714

   Song, Song dynasty, Sung, Sung dynasty

   the imperial dynasty of China from 960 to 1279; noted for art and literature and philosophy

   Tang, Tang dynasty

   the imperial dynasty of China from 618 to 907

   House of Tudor, Tudor

   an English dynasty descended from Henry Tudor; Tudor monarchs ruled from Henry VII to Elizabeth I (from 1485 to 1603)

   Omayyad, Ommiad, Umayyad

   the first dynasty of Arab caliphs whose capital was Damascus

   Valois

   French royal house from 1328 to 1589

   Wei, Wei dynasty

   any of several imperial dynasties of China ruling from 220 to 265 and from 386 to 556

   House of Windsor, Windsor

   the British royal family since 1917

   House of York, York

   the English royal house (a branch of the Plantagenet line) that reigned from 1461 to 1485; its emblem was a white rose

   Mongol dynasty, Yuan, Yuan dynasty

   the imperial dynasty of China from 1279 to 1368

   Chou, Chou dynasty, Chow, Chow dynasty, Zhou, Zhou dynasty

   the imperial dynasty of China from 1122 to 221 BC; notable for the rise of Confucianism and Taoism

   Medici

   aristocratic Italian family of powerful merchants and bankers who ruled Florence in the 15th century

   type of:

   ancestry, blood, blood line, bloodline, descent, line, line of descent, lineage, origin, parentage, pedigree, stemma, stock

   the lineage of an individual