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-kin

English · Thesaurus

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-kin¹

Where it comes from

From Middle English -kin, -kinne, -kunne, from Old English cynna, the genitive plural of cynn (“kind, sort, rank”), used in compounds.

suffix -kin

  1. dialectal, morpheme, not comparable Used to form adjectives expressing resemblance or likeness to, similar to -like. alkin
  2. morpheme, not comparable Used to form nouns having qualities of or belonging to a particular kind, class, or sort. otakukin

-kin²

Where it comes from

From Middle English -kyn, (also as -ke, -k), perhaps from Old English -ca, but probably instead from Middle Dutch -kin, apparently representing Proto-West Germanic *-ikīn, *-ukīn, a double diminutive, from *-ik, *-uk (> Old English -oc) + *-īn (compare Old English -en). Cognate with Dutch -ken, Low German -ken, German -chen, Old English -ċen. More at -ock, -en.

suffix -kins · -ikin

  1. archaic, morpheme Forming diminutives of nouns.

    Similar: -cule, -ee, -el, -et, -ette, -icle, -ie, -le, -let, -ling, -ole, -ule

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Cite this
MLA

"-kin." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/-kin. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

-kin. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/-kin

Chicago

"-kin." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/-kin.

BibTeX
@misc{kin_2026,
  title = {-kin},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/-kin},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}