Kindred

How to spell kindred

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce kindred

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does kindred mean?

1. adjectiveSimilar in nature, character, or feeling; closely related.
2. nounA person's relatives or family considered collectively; kinship.

Kindred in a sentence

• adjective

  She found a kindred spirit in her new colleague, who loved the same obscure films.

• noun

  He left the bulk of his estate to his kindred rather than to charity.

• adjective

  The two researchers worked on kindred topics and often shared their findings.

• noun

  The old records traced her kindred back four generations.

Where does kindred come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word goes back to the Old English noun cynrǣden, which combined cynn, meaning 'family' or 'kin', with the suffix -rǣden, meaning 'condition' or 'state of being'. So the original sense was literally the condition of being related, the bond of family. In Middle English the form was 'kinrede', and over time an intrusive 'd' crept in between the 'n' and the 'r', purely because that consonant cluster was easier for English speakers to pronounce; the same kind of inserted sound explains why we say 'thunder' from older 'thunor'. That stray 'd', which has no historical justification, is exactly the letter that trips modern writers up. From the literal idea of family, the word broadened to describe anything similar in nature or character, as in 'a kindred spirit'.

How the word is built

• kin (family, relatives)
• -red (from Old English -rǣden: condition, state); the intrusive 'd' was added in Middle English