Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Clan
6 dictionary results for: clan
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
clan       [klan] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.a group of families or households, as among the Scottish Highlanders, the heads of which claim descent from a common ancestor: the Mackenzie clan.
2.a group of people of common descent; family: Our whole clan got together for Thanksgiving.
3.a group of people, as a clique, set, society, or party, esp. as united by some common trait, characteristic, or interest: a clan of actors and directors.
4.Anthropology.
a.the principal social unit of tribal organization, in which descent is reckoned exclusively in either the paternal or the maternal line.
b.a group of people regarded as being descended from a common ancestor.

[Origin: 1375–1425; late ME (Scots) < ScotGael clann < OIr cland offspring < L planta scion, plant, perh. directly < Brit. Celtic; cf. Welsh plant children]

clanless, adjective
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
clan       (klān)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. A traditional social unit in the Scottish Highlands, consisting of a number of families claiming a common ancestor and following the same hereditary chieftain.
  2. A division of a tribe tracing descent from a common ancestor.
  3. A large group of relatives, friends, or associates.


[Middle English, from Scottish Gaelic clann, family, from Old Irish cland, offspring, from Latin planta, plant, sprout; see plat- in Indo-European roots.]

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
clan 
c.1425, from Gael. clann "family, stock, offspring," akin to O.Ir. cland "offspring, tribe," both from L. planta "offshoot" (see plant (n.)). Gaelic (Goidelic) Celtic had no initial p-, so it substituted k- or c- for L. p-. Clannish is first attested 1776.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
clan

noun
group of people related by blood or marriage [syn: kin

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Clan

Clan\, n. [Gael. clann offspring, descendants; akin to Ir. clann, cland, offspring, tribe, family; perh. from L. plania scion, slip, cutting. Cf. Plant, n.]

1. A tribe or collection of families, united under a chieftain, regarded as having the same common ancestor, and bearing the same surname; as, the clan of Macdonald. "I have marshaled my clan." --Campbell.

2. A clique; a sect, society, or body of persons; esp., a body of persons united by some common interest or pursuit; -- sometimes used contemptuously.

Partidge and the rest of his clan may hoot me. --Smolett.

The whole clan of the enlightened among us. --Burke.

Acronym Finder - Cite This Source - Share This

CLAN

CLAN: in Acronym Finder

Share This:Share This: digg.comShare This: ma.gnolia.comShare This: www.stumbleupon.comShare This: del.icio.usShare This: FacebookShare This: favorites.live.comShare This: www.technorati.comShare This: furl.netShare This: myweb2.search.yahoo.comShare This: www.google.com