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Added 1 October 2026

clan

/klæn/ noun

In Latin: familia, gens Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about clan at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

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.

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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