extended family

noun

"extended-family" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“extended family” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A family consisting of parents and children, along with additional members such as grandparents, grandchildren, aunts or uncles, cousins, etc.

Corpus desk

Index EN-extended-family · extended family · English

extended family · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 15 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "E" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for extended family
PropertyValue
Headwordextended family
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “extended family” in English

extended familysits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

extended family is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A family consisting of parents and children, along with additional members such as grandparents, grandchildren, aunts or uncles, cousins, etc.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for extended family in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is extended family, spelled E-X-T-E-N-D-E-D- -F-A-M-I-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A family consisting of parents and children, along with additional members such as grandparents, grandchildren, aunts or uncles, cousins, etc.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how extended family appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Angaran females typically give birth to several young who require support and supervision, resulting in large extended families that become accustomed to living and working together.
  2. The old men nap on couches, waiting for dessert. It’s the extended family in all its tangled, loving, exhausting glory.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "extended family"?
"extended family" is spelled E-X-T-E-N-D-E-D- -F-A-M-I-L-Y.
What does "extended family" mean?
As a noun, "extended family" means: A family consisting of parents and children, along with additional members such as grandparents, grandchildren, aunts or uncles, cousins, etc.
What language does "extended family" come from?
"extended family" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list