Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Knowledge; information.
- n. Education; in the plural, manners.
- n. One's friends or relatives collectively: now obsolete, except in the phrase kith and kin, one's own people and kindred.
- n. One's native land; home; country.
Wiktionary
- n. obsolete friends and acquaintances
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Acquaintance; kindred.
WordNet 3.0
- n. your friends and acquaintances
Etymologies
- From Middle English kith ("kinsmen, relations"), from Old English cȳþþ, cȳþþu ("kinship, kinsfolk, relations"), from Proto-Germanic *kunþiþō (“knowledge, acquaintance”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenǝ-, *ǵnō- (“to know”). Cognate with Old High German kundida ("kith"), kundī ("knowledge"), Gothic 𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌹 (kunþi, "knowledge"). More at couth, -th. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“I will ask what we may teach one another about what we might do today and tomorrow not to repeat the bloody relationship that gave birth to Fort Hare and a South African Berlin, and gave birth to common reference points that we should all visit to understand what they did, whom we call kith and kin.”
“In an organization his kith are the key players or middle managers.”
“I just mention this, in case any of you out there are blessed with the kind of kith and kin susceptible to suggestions for good gifts to give a writer for any major holiday that might be coming up.”
“They acknowledge and make themselves accountable to sober kith-or the cocoon of caring people who surround them (for more information about "kith").”
“Our word "kith," in the proverb "kith and kin," means persons of our acquaintance.] [Footnote 355: Bib.”
“Nor to the Soviet Empire that we faced down patiently over half a century, nor to the great British Empire from which we broke free in a long and taxing struggle that affords a better picture of our kith and kin than any the world may have today of who we are and of what we are capable.”
The Wall Street Journal: The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page: Sept. 12, 2001
“I hope you enjoy it with kith, kin and of course the WPIX Yule Log.”
“God bless America, and all who lost kin or kith on Sept. 11, 2001.”
The Huffington Post: Robin Koerner: A Decade After 9/11: Time to Choose to be America Again?
“For more than four decades, her New York kith and kin would drop by on St. Patrick's Day after checking out the over-long parade.”
“And as with all matters important to their male kith and kin – and eligible gentlemen – the general social season fit itself around the Scottish one.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘kith’.
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phrontistery - k
from phrontistery.info
kyrielle, kyrie, kyphosis, kyriolexy, kymograph, kyloe, kyllosis, kylin, kvass, kurtosis, kyphorrhinos, ktenology and 189 more...
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Interesting
iridescent, luminescent, gossamer, blithe, illusory, halo, cygnet, covet, bloody, iris, pruinose, limerence and 15 more...
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words 2
janiform, remora, sprat, stoa, sone, lea, scow, atoll, Weltschmerz, barmy, concupiscent, actinic and 18 more...
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Cold comfort farm again
cowdling, dormer, mullion, scullion, snood, snoot, scranlet, kith, oleaginous, lambency, dissever, loafing and 27 more...
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wakcy's Words
apocalypse, interlude, drome, absolution, atrocity, ruse, pristine, mason, reparable, deteriorate, pyramid, hipster and 283 more...
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Congregation
Clusters, gatherings, and groups of humans.
alliance, circle, council, federation, fraternity, league, assembly, company, group, flock, crowd, mob and 99 more...
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ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
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Really Cool Four-Letter Words
I marvel at the amazing variety of four-letter words in the English language. And that's not even counting really common (to me) words like fuck.
ibis, pelf, sofa, iota, oboe, lava, icon, sped, puha, pulp, puma, kyat and 150 more...
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There's a word for that?
temerity, tacit, froward, faineant, caterwaul, menagerie, ennui, sine qua non, lissom, multifarious, laconic, katzenjammer and 240 more...
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Cold Comfort Farm
From the novel by Stella Gibbons
tyro, bustle, locust years, lambency, mere, berg, fen, bilious, cataclysm, flapdoodle, vulgar, serener and 98 more...
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beatricks's Words
tremendous, naiad, thrush, samsara, thronging, nascent, broom, aristeia, streak, susurrant, reverberate, resistentialism and 352 more...
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pixistix's Words
cumquat, circumlocution, panoply, propinquity, contumely, quietus, fardel, tmesis, tipsy, giddy, trudge, vortex and 211 more...
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Joshee Word List
gash, engross, entail, stoke, ode, vacillate, aspersion, asperity, clan, kith, prospect, nag and 229 more...
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my words
interminable, effete, convocation, philistines, malaise, foibles, deputation, anathematized, morass, stalwart, proselytize, abet and 405 more...
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TheLastGoodNameLeft
The Last Good Words Left
ephemera, gammon, errata, ellipses, octopi, heteronormative, polyp, intersectionality, theses, california, halfback, fullback and 555 more...
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the omnibus
preponderance, idioglossia, acumen, heteronym, flux, anacoluthon, metonymy, impetus, constellation, exegesis, revelatory, cloistered and 877 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for kith.
Louises "Amos liked to have his kith about him". Stella Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm Feb 18, 2013
kmocol01 numerous references to Arthurian legend in both definitions and examples, so yeah, instant love Nov 21, 2009