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clan

 - 3 dictionary results

clan

  [klan]
Use clan in a Sentence
–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

Related forms:
clanless, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To clan
clan   (klān)   
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.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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