TKG English Learner's Dictionary

family

familynoun

American /ˈfæm.ə.li/ British /ˈfæm.ə.li/ In everyday speech the middle syllable is often dropped, giving two syllables: FAM-lee.
plural families
very commondefining vocabulary

A family is a group of people related to each other, and, in a wider sense, a group of animals, plants, languages, or things that come from the same beginning or naturally go together.

  1. parents and childrena group of people who are related to each other, especially parents and their children

    countable [C] singular or plural verb [sing/pl verb] often before another noun [before noun]

    Collocations

    adjective + noun a large family, a small family, a close family, a happy family, a single-parent family, the whole family
    verb + noun start a family, raise a family, support a family, have a family
    noun + noun family life, family home, family business, family member, family history, family doctor
    preposition + noun in the family
    phrase a family of four, the head of the family

    Synonyms house

    Compare household (a household is the people living in one house, whether or not they are related)

  2. relativesall the people who are related to you, including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins

    uncountable [U]

    • Ravi has family in three different countries.
    • She has no family left.
    • We spent the holiday with family.
    • Is he family? (family: a relative)

    Collocations

    adjective + noun extended family, immediate family, close family
    phrase family and friends, a member of the family, one of the family

    Compare relative (a relative is one person in your family)

    For translators (sense 2)

    Grammar trap Uncountable in this sense, with no article: she has family abroad, not she has a family abroad, which would mean a husband or wife and children.

  3. of animals or plantsin science, a group of related kinds of animals or plants, or of languages, that come from the same ancestor

    countable [C] science

    Collocations

    noun + preposition a family of
    noun + noun language family, plant family
    phrase the cat family, a member of the family

    Compare species (a species is one kind of animal or plant; a family contains many species)

    1. aa group of things of the same kind, or made to go together

      countable [C]

      • The company sells a family of small electric cars.
      • All the letters in the font family share the same shapes.

      Collocations

      noun + preposition a family of

Phrases

run in the family

be passed from parents to children, so that many members of one family have it

Said of a quality, a talent, or an illness.

Word family

  • familial (formal: of the family)

Usage

Family can take a singular or a plural verb. The singular treats the family as one unit (my family is small; the family lives next door); the plural treats its members as separate people (my family are all coming). Plural agreement is mainly British; American English normally uses a singular verb: my family is all coming. The plural of the noun is families.

Common mistakes

My family is four people. There are four people in my family.
Say how many people are in your family, or we are a family of four.
Two familys share the house. Two families share the house.
A y after a consonant changes to ies in the plural.

For translators

Meaning across languages In everyday English, family most often means the parents and children who live together; the wider group of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins is the extended family, or simply family used without an article. Languages that use one word mainly for the wider group should note this narrower everyday meaning.
Grammar trap Countable: a family, two families. In American English a singular family normally takes a singular verb even when its members are meant: my family is all tall; British English often uses a plural verb. The uncountable use, with no article, means relatives: he has family abroad.
Cultural background In English-speaking countries family usually means a small household of parents and children; adult children often live apart from their parents, and family members in the wider sense are called relatives. Family before a noun (family restaurant, family car) means suitable for parents with children.
False friends In some languages the word that looks like familiar is an adjective meaning of the family, or a noun meaning a relative. English familiar means well known, not of the family; to describe something as for or about the family, English uses the noun family before another noun instead: a family meal.
Pronunciation trap Stress on the first syllable, FAM-uh-lee. In everyday speech the middle syllable often disappears, giving two syllables, FAM-lee; both are correct. The first vowel is the short a of cat.