Etymologically
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familial

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 02:57. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /fəˈmɪljəl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French familial,[2][3][4][5][6][7] recorded in French from 1830,[2] formed from Latin familia (“family”) with the French suffix -al.[2][4] It is related to family and familiar.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to a family: 1843, in the New Age and Concordium Gazette.[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to 1888,[3] and the Oxford Dictionary of English to the early 20th century.[6]

Semantic evolution

Before familial, familiar had been used since the late 14th century for "of one's family".[3] The medical sense, occurring in several members or generations of a family, is recorded from 1892 in the journal Brain;[2] Etymonline dates "hereditary" to 1895.[3] From 1914 it was also used of a group of related things, such as languages.[2]

Timeline

  • 1843 – of or relating to a family.[2][4]
  • 1892 – in medicine, occurring in several members of a family, hereditary.[2]
  • 1914 – of a group of related things, such as languages.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or typical of a family: familial ties.[8][4][2]
  2. Of a disease or trait, occurring in more members of a family than chance would explain; hereditary: a familial form of the illness.[8][4][2]

Word family

  • interfamilial
  • nonfamilial

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins