# kin

> English word · Noun · IPA /kɪn/ · frequency rank #12,087

## Definitions
1. Race; family; breed; kind.
2. Persons of the same race or family; kindred.
3. One or more relatives, such as siblings or cousins, taken collectively.
4. Relationship; same-bloodedness or affinity; near connection or alliance, as of those having common descent.

## Etymology
From Middle English kyn, 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”), Finnish kunnia (“honour, glory”), Ingrian kunnia (“reputation”), 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”).

## Easily confused with
- **ky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-ky)
- **ko** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-ko)
- **Ku** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-ku)
- **KS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-ks)
- **KT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kt)
- **kk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kk)
- **KL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kl)
- **KP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kp)
- **KJ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kj)
- **kit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kit)
- **kun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kun)
- **KKK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kkk)
- **Koh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-koh)
- **KMS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kms)
- **koi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-koi)
- **kip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kip)
- **Kos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kos)
- **Koo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-koo)
- **Kok** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kok)
- **kmt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/kin-vs-kmt)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/kin