akin

Etymology

It is a contraction of the phrase “of kin”,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from English a- + kin, with the first element reduced from of.^[2][7][8][3] The noun kin goes back to Old English cynn (“family, race, kind”) and Proto-Germanic *kunją (“family”).^[3][7] The OED suggests that in “near akin” and “next akin” the word was first an adverb qualifying the preceding word, as in the earlier “near of kin” and next of kin.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the same family; related by blood: c. 1515, in Lord Berners's translation of Huon of Bordeaux.^[2] The dates in other dictionaries differ: 1525 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[9] 1567 in the Collegiate,^[10] 1558 in the first edition of the OED,^[11] the 1550s in Etymonline,^[3] and 1580–90 in the Random House dictionaries.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense "of the same kind, similar" followed at once: the OED records it from 1548, in Cranmer's Catechism,^[2] while Etymonline dates "allied by nature" to the 1630s^[3] and the Shorter Oxford to the mid 17th century.^[7] Johnson (1755) gave both senses, "related by blood, used of persons" with a quotation from Sidney, and "allied by nature".^[14] The OED notes that the blood sense is now chiefly regional English, of the north-west.^[2] The adjective is mostly used after the noun or verb, often with to.^{[2][15][1][9]}

Timeline

• c. 1515 – related by blood.^[2]
• 1525 – first known use in Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[9]
• 1548 – of the same kind, similar, often with to.^[2]
• 1550s – Etymonline's date for "related by blood".^[3]
• 1630s – Etymonline's date for "allied by nature".^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Related by blood; of the same family: The two families turned out to be akin.
2. Similar in nature or character, often with to: Her method is akin to a detective's.
3. Descended from a common ancestor or source; cognate.

Related words

• kin
• kindred
• kind

Usage notes

Akin is a predicative adjective: it stands after the noun it describes or after a verb such as be, not before a noun.^{[15][1][9][7]}

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins