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kith and kin

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kith and kin

–noun
acquaintances and relatives.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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kith and kin   (kĭth' ən kĭn')   
pl.n.  
  1. One's acquaintances and relatives.

  2. One's relatives.


[Middle English kith, from Old English cȳth, kinsfolk, neighbors; see gnō- in Indo-European roots.]
Word History: Kith is obsolete except in the alliterative phrase kith and kin, which originally meant "native land and people" and first appeared about 1377 in Piers Plowman. Kith comes from the Old English noun cȳth, "knowledge; known, familiar country; acquaintances, friends." Cȳth in turn comes from the Germanic noun *kunthithō, a derivative of *kunthaz, "known." Germanic *kunthaz was the past participle of a verb *kunnan, "to know, know how," which became cunnan in Old English. The first person singular of this verb, can, is alive and well today, as is what was originally the verbal noun and adjective of cunnan, namely cunning, first appearing in the 14th century. Germanic *kunthaz itself survived in the Old English adjective cūth, "known, familiar," a word that became obsolete in southern English by 1600, but has survived in its negative, uncouth. Modern English couth is actually a jocular back-formation introduced by Max Beerbohm in 1896.
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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Idioms & Phrases

kith and kin

Friends and family, as in Everyone was invited, kith and kin as well as distant acquaintances. This expression dates from the 1300s and originally meant "country-men" (kith meant "one's native land") and "family members." It gradually took on the present looser sense.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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