An American term for your relatives — the whole extended web of family, blood relations, and sometimes people who've just been around so long they count as family.
Read "No way I’m voting for Ramaswamy. He’s skinfolk, but so not our kinfolk | Opinion" on SmartNews: l.smartnews.com/p-7FCEUQ1i/J...
"No way I’m voting for Ramaswamy. He’s skinfolk, but so not our kinfolk | Opinion" #Ohio (The Columbus Dispatch) on SmartNews: l.smartnews.com/p-7FE4PFnO/z... #SmartNews
An American term for your relatives — the whole extended web of family, blood relations, and sometimes people who've just been around so long they count as family. It's warm and informal, carrying a down-home quality that 'relatives' simply doesn't. Common in Southern US speech and rural communities, it brings to mind front-porch reunions, family BBQs, and big holiday tables. Also used affectionately among close friend groups who consider themselves family.
Half the town showed up to the funeral — when you're from a small place, kinfolk are everywhere.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
See all Regional & Other slang on Slangora.
Browse all slang words starting with K.
(figurative, also, attributive) Something kindred or related to something else; a relative.
Chiefly with a qualifying word: Any relation (especially a distant one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person's extended family; a kinsman or kinswoman.
(chiefly, in the plural) A person of an ethnicity or nationality regarded as closely related to someone of another ethnicity or nationality.
(US, colloquial) grandparents.
“All your skinfolk ain’t your kinfolk.”
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(US) Relatives, relations.
Kinfolk means: Relatives, relations.. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than risky behaviour. If your teen uses it, context will usually make the intent clear. A short, curious question about where they heard it is usually all that is needed to know whether to follow up. For most families this word will pass by without incident; it is more a vocabulary curiosity than a parenting concern.
kinfolk means: Relatives, relations.. Register: neutral, standard English. A common learner mistake is using the word in a register it does not fit, or assuming a single global meaning; native speakers immediately notice when slang appears in formal contexts, so always check the surrounding register before producing it yourself. A formal-English equivalent (a synonym or descriptive phrase) is usually safer in writing. When in doubt, paraphrase rather than reuse the slang form.
“Read "No way I’m voting for Ramaswamy. He’s skinfolk, but so not our kinfolk | Opinion" on SmartNews: l.smartnews.com/p-7FCEUQ1i/J...”
“"No way I’m voting for Ramaswamy. He’s skinfolk, but so not our kinfolk | Opinion" #Ohio (The Columbus Dispatch) on SmartNews: l.smartnews.com/p-7FE4PFnO/z... #SmartNews”
““All your skinfolk ain’t your kinfolk.””
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