clan
English · Español · Français · Deutsch · Italiano · Română · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
clan
- /klæn/ US, UK
- /klan/ British, Northern England, Scotland
- /klɛn/ New Zealand
Sounds like Klan · Rhymes with -æn
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Irish clann (“offspring, children of the family”) and Scottish Gaelic clann, both from Old Irish cland, borrowed from Old Welsh plant, itself borrowed from Latin planta (“shoot, offspring”). Doublet of plant and planta.
noun clans
- A group of people all descended from a common ancestor, in fact or belief, especially when the exact genealogies are not known.
- A traditional social group of families in the Scottish Highlands having a common hereditary chieftain.
-
Any group defined by family ties with some sort of political unity.
Holonym: nation
Similar: canton
-
traditional main matrilineal subunit of the Minangkabau people (suku) esp. in Negeri Sembilan
Similar: canton
- A group of players who habitually play on the same team in multiplayer games.
-
A group of badgers.
if the clan of badgers next door isn't marking its boundaries
Similar: cete
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: kin, kindred, tribe, kin group, kinship group, lineage, family, gens, fraternity, exogamy, tribal, clique, coven, sect, vampire, ethnic
Translations
Every language
Talk about this word "clan." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/clan. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. clan. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/clan "clan." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/clan.Cite this
@misc{clan_2026,
title = {clan},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/clan},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
