English
kin
Kin comes from Middle English kyn ‘a family’, from Old English cynn ‘kind, sort, rank’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-1‘to produce’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵn̥h₁yom1reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kunją1‘race, generation, descent’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kuni1‘family, kin’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cynn1‘kind, sort, rank’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500kyn1‘a family’
- Englishearliest quotation 1814kin1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English kin
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1814, Jane Austen, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton: “Such sensations, however, were too near a kin to…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-Wiktionary, English kin‘to produce’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵn̥h₁yomWiktionary, English kinreconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kunjąWiktionary, English kin‘race, generation, descent’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kuniWiktionary, English kin‘family, kin’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cynnWiktionary, English kin‘kind, sort, rank’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500kynWiktionary, English kin‘a family’
- Englishearliest quotation 1814kinWiktionary, English kin. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1814, Jane Austen, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton: “Such sensations, however, were too near a kin to…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’
general, nature, german, nation, generation, native, gender, pregnant, engine, kind, gene, genius, oxygen, ken, genre, gentle, genuine, kingdom, hydrogen, indigenous, genocide, naive, genus, noel, genital, natal, nee, germ, nativity, nada, innate, ingenious, nascent, gentile, janata, gens, puny, glycogen, genial, genteel, 110 more
through Proto-Germanic *kunją ‘race, generation, descent’
through Middle English kyn ‘a family’
Today it means
noun Race; family; breed; kind.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “kin”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.