akin

See also: akın, Akin, Akın, a-kin, and a kin

English

Alternative forms

• a kin, a-kin (obsolete)

Etymology

From a corruption of of kin, from Middle English of kyn (“related, of kin”), equivalent to a- +‎ kin (1550s). Compare Old English cyn, cynn (“akin, proper, suitable”, adj.).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈkɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ʌˈkɪn/
• Rhymes: -ɪn

Adjective

akin (comparative more akin, superlative most akin)

1. (of persons) Of the same kin; related by blood.
   • 1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, page 137:

     [W]e are too near a kin to lye together, tho' vve may Lodge near one another; […]

   • 1897, Joseph Conrad, The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, →OCLC:

     The faces changed, passing in rotation. Youthful faces, bearded faces, dark faces: faces serene, or faces moody, but all akin with the brotherhood of the sea.

2. (often followed by to) Allied by nature; similar; partaking of the same properties; of the same kind.
   • 1677, Theophilus Gale, The Court of the Gentiles, T. Cockeril, part 4, bk. 1, ch. 2, p. 27:

     Is not then Fruition near akin to Love?

   • 1710 March 20 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, March 9, 1709–1710. To the Spectator, &c..”, in The Spectator, number 8; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 39:

     She told me that she hoped my Face was not akin to my Tongue.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter XXXIX, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

     Mr. Winkle . . . took his hand with a feeling of regard, akin to veneration.

   • 1910 July, Zane Grey, “Old Well-Well”, in Success:

     Something akin to a smile shone on his face.

   • 2021 June 30, Philip Haigh, “Regional trains squeezed as ECML congestion heads north”, in RAIL, number 934, page 52:

     I'll be interested to see how this service does. It will be basic with fares to match, so will be akin to a budget airline taking on a flag-carrier.

   • 2022 January 19, Robert Alexander, “What 2020’s pro-Trump phony electors means for 2024”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 16 August 2022:

     After all, that would be akin to a self-coup. Apart from the traditional vision of a coup requiring a military takeover of the government, self-coups occur when governments depart from typical norms of democracy by altering election laws, calling into question election results or seeking to suspend their constitutions in order to stay in power.

   • 2025 May 12, Jeff Edwards, “Rods from God: Unleashing Orbital Kinetic Bombardment as a Theoretical Defense System”, in Mira Safety‎^[2], archived from the original on 7 August 2025:

     Picking up speed with each passing second, the rod would then penetrate the ground and generate an explosion akin to a small nuclear weapon using nothing but gravity for its propulsion.

Usage notes

• This adjective is always placed after the noun that it modifies.

Synonyms

• (related by blood): See also Thesaurus:consanguine
• (of the same kind): See also Thesaurus:akin

Derived terms

• akinness
• unakin

Translations

of the same kin; related by blood

• Bulgarian: имащ кръвно родство (imašt krǎvno rodstvo)
• Czech: příbuzný (cs) m, pokrevní
• Dutch: verwant (nl)
• French: apparenté (fr) m
• German: verwandt (de)
• Italian: consanguineo (it) m
• Polish: spokrewniony (pl) m
• Portuguese: semelhante (pt) m or f
• Russian: ро́дственный (ru) (ródstvennyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: srȍdan (sh)
• Slovak: príbuzný m, pokrvný m
• Spanish: emparentado (es), consanguíneo m, pariente (es)
• Ukrainian: споріднений (uk) (sporidnenyj)

of the same kind; similar

• Bulgarian: сроден (bg) (sroden), близък (bg) (blizǎk)
• Catalan: semblant (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 与（……）相似

• Czech: podobný (cs) m, blízký (cs) m, srovnatelný m
• Dutch: gelijkaardig (nl), verwant (nl)
• Esperanto: simila, rilata
• French: analogue (fr) m
• German: ähnlich (de), analog (de)
• Hungarian: hasonló (hu), rokon (hu), analóg (hu)
• Italian: affine (it)
• Macedonian: налик (nalik)
• Polish: pokrewny (pl) m, zbliżony (pl) m
• Portuguese: semelhante (pt) m or f
• Russian: сродни́ (ru) (srodní), подо́бный (ru) (podóbnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: srȍdan (sh)
• Slovak: podobný m, príbuzný m, taký ako ... m
• Spanish: semejante (es), similar (es), análogo (es), parejo (es), pintiparado (es), afín (es)
• Ukrainian: подібний (podibnyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} דומה, ^{(please verify)} קשור (he) (compare קרבת דם)

Verb

akin (third-person singular simple present akins, present participle akinning, simple past and past participle akinned)

1. (rare) To relate or compare; to liken.

   I like to akin the P-Diddy case to Gen-Z's version of the O.J. Simpson trial.

Anagrams

• kain, naik, Kian, Kain, Inka, kina, Naik

Hungarian

Etymology

aki +‎ -n

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɒkin]
• Hyphenation: akin

Pronoun

akin

1. superessive singular of aki

Narua

Numeral

akin

1. one

Navajo

Noun

akin

1. third-person indefinite of bikin

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• 'kin — contraction, used with sa
• acquin, aquin — obsolete, Spanish-based spelling
• Akin — honorific alternative case

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *akən (first person singular oblique).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈʔakin/ [ˈʔaː.xɪn̪], (colloquial) /ˈʔaken/ [ˈʔaː.xɛn̪]
• Rhymes: -akin
• Syllabification: a‧kin

Determiner

akin (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜃᜒᜈ᜔)

1. my

Pronoun

akin (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜃᜒᜈ᜔)

1. (possessive) mine

   Synonym: (postpositive) ko

2. (oblique) (to) me

Derived terms

• akin na
• akinin
• aking-akin
• mapasaakin
• sa ganang akin
• sa'kin
• sumaakin

See also

Tagalog personal pronouns

Person	Number	Direct (ang)	Indirect (ng)	Oblique (sa)
First	singular	ako	ko	akin
	dual1	kita, kata	nita, nata, ta	kanita, kanata, ata
	plural inclusive	tayo	natin	atin
	plural exclusive	kami	namin	amin
First & Second	singular	kita2
Second	singular	ikaw, ka	mo	iyo
	plural	kayo, kamo	ninyo, niyo	inyo
Third	singular	siya	niya	kaniya
	plural	sila	nila	kanila

¹ First person dual pronouns are not commonly used in Standard Tagalog.
² Replaces ko ikaw.

• ang akin lang naman
• angkin

Further reading

• “akin”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2025
• “akin”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018
• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*aken₁”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

Anagrams

• kina, kain, naik

Yoruba

Etymology

From a- +‎ kin

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ā.kĩ̄/

Noun

akin

1. bravery, valor, courage

   Synonyms: ògbójú, àyà

2. brave person; warrior

   Synonym: alákin

3. A prefix used in male Yoruba given names, (ex. Akíndélé).

Derived terms

• Akin (Yoruba name, and a shortening of many names with the prefix Akin)
• alákin (“a brave person”)