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cousins

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cousins¹

  • /ˈkʌzn̩s/ UK
  • /ˈkʌz(ə)ns/ US
  • /ˈkʌzɪns/ US
  • [ˈkʰɐz.ɹ̩ns]

Sounds like cozens (weak vowel merger)

Where it comes from

From cousin + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum, regular plurals of nouns, and the third-person singular indicative present tense forms of verbs).

The plural noun noun 1 sense 1 (“American or British intelligence services”) was popularized in the works of the English author John le Carré (David John Moore Cornwell; 1930–2020).

noun Cousins

  1. plural, plural only, slang The American intelligence services (from a British perspective) or the British intelligence services (from an American perspective). [T]he grounded fieldmen, the trainers and the case officers who made their own murmured caucus always – they saw the question solely in operational terms. […] They saw the shotgun marriage with the Cousins as just another skilful bit of tradecraft in a long and delicate poker game.

noun

  1. plural plural of cousin

verb

  1. indicative, present, singular, third person third-person singular simple present indicative of cousin

Cousins²

Where it comes from

A Middle English surname from Norman terminology. From Anglo-Norman, from Old French cusin, cosin, cousin (“cousin”) (French cousin, cousine). Literally, “familial relative”.

proper noun Cousinses · Couzen · Couzens · Cozen · Cozens · Cozin

  1. A surname from Middle English.

Cousins³

Where it comes from

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

proper noun

  1. plural plural of Cousin

noun

  1. plural plural of Cousin

Cousins⁴

Where it comes from

See cousins.

noun

  1. Alternative letter-case form of cousins (“the American intelligence services (from a British perspective) or the British intelligence services (from an American perspective)”).

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: first cousin, cousin-german, full cousin, coz, kin, parents, premiums, relatives, kinsmen, kinfolk, relations, kinsfolk, family, kindred, cognates, agnates

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{cousins_2026,
  title = {cousins},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cousins},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}