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The Evolution of Kith
If you’d used the word kith a thousand years ago, you might have been referring to knowledge, or to a homeland, or possibly to your neighbors and acquaintances. While those first two meanings of kith have long since fallen out of use, the word endures with a meaning very close to that “neighbors and acquaintances” one. Today kith appears almost exclusively in the phrase kith and kin, meaning “friends and relatives.” (Kin, another ancient word, can also refer independently to relatives.) Occasionally you will see kith and kin used to refer only to family members, much to the chagrin of those who despise redundancy in language. If you wish to avoid redundancy charges you’ll be sure to include friends as well as family among your “kith and kin.”
Examples of kith in a Sentence
Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 17 July 2023
They were being held to the same standards as the rest of the world, forced to confront political realities that were previously beyond their kith.
—Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 30 Dec. 2020
All familiar sights around Christmas, when the social obligations of the festive season draw people together with their kith and kin.
—Elisabeth Blagrove, Quartz, 25 Dec. 2019
According to Ms Debos, the need for France’s intervention showed that some high-ranking officers were unwilling to fight their kith and kin among the rebels.
—The Economist, 18 July 2019
Although Edward IV had the Lancastrian King Henry VI secretly murdered in the Tower in 1471, to close off the enemy dynasty, Richard couldn’t get away with the same thing with his own kith and kin 12 years later.
—Andrew Roberts, WSJ, 30 Apr. 2018
Dictionary Entries Near kith
Cite this Entry
“Kith.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kith. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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kith
noun
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