kin

Etymology 1

From Middle English kin, kyn, ken, kun, from Old English cynn (“kind, sort, rank”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuni, from Proto-Germanic *kunją (“race, generation, descent”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₁yom, from *ǵenh₁- (“to produce”). Cognate with Scots kin (“relatives, kinfolk”), North Frisian kinn, kenn (“gender, race, family, kinship”), Dutch kunne (“gender, sex”), Middle Low German kunne (“gender, sex, race, family, lineage”), Danish køn (“gender, sex”), Swedish kön (“gender, sex”), Icelandic kyn (“gender”), and through Indo-European, with Latin genus (“kind, sort, ancestry, birth”), Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “kind, race”), Sanskrit जनस् (jánas, “kind, race”), Albanian dhen (“(herd of) small cattle”).

noun

1. Race; family; breed; kind.
2. (collectively) Persons of the same race or family; kindred.
   c. 1620, Francis Bacon, letter of advice to Sir George Villiers You are of kin, and so must be a friend to their persons.
   Based on the number of teeth ammonites had—nine—it's believed that their closest living kin are octopuses. 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, page 84
3. One or more relatives, such as siblings or cousins, taken collectively.
   Among those who derive information related to work from personal contacts, nonkins, rather than kins, constitute the most important sources even for women. 2016, Saraswati Raju, Santosh Jatrana, Women Workers in Urban India, page 280
4. Relationship; same-bloodedness or affinity; near connection or alliance, as of those having common descent.

adj

1. Related by blood or marriage, akin. Generally used in "kin to".
   It turns out my back-fence neighbor is kin to one of my co-workers.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Mandarin 琴 (qín), from a non-palatal dialect akin to Peking; or less likely, from Japanese 琴 (kin).

noun

1. Alternative form of qin (“Chinese string instrument”)
   Originally they had only two cither-like instruments, which had flat sound-boxes without fingerboards, over which were strung rather a large number (25) of strings of twisted silk — the kin and tsche. 1899, Hugo Riemann, Catechism of Musical History: History of musical instruments and history of tone-systems and notation
   If a musician were going to give a lecture upon the mathematical part of his art, he would find a very elegant substitute for the monochord in the Chinese kin. 1840, Elijah Coleman Bridgman, Samuel Wells Williams, The Chinese Repository, page 40

Etymology 3

Clipping of fictionkin.

verb

1. (transitive, fandom slang) To identify with; as in empathize or emotionally relate to a fictional character.

noun

1. (fandom slang) A fictional character whom one deeply relates to.
2. (fandom slang, in the form (character name) kin) Someone who relates deeply to a certain fictional character.
   Alternative form: kinnie

Etymology 4

noun

1. Alternative form of k'in

Etymology 5

verb

1. Pronunciation spelling of can.
   [Owl:] Oh I ain't stealin' this dime... I just took it for safe-keepin'. [Turtle:] Ain't much you kin do with it—'cept make a phone call. January 5 1959, Walt Kelly, Pogo, comic strip, page 4

Etymology 6

noun

1. (colloquial) Short for kinesiology.