Translation guide
The English word "kin" refers to family members, relatives, or people related by blood or marriage. In Japanese, expressing this concept depends on context, formality, and whether you are talking about your own family or someone else's.
Referring to your own family or relatives in a neutral or informal context.
The most common word for 'family', including immediate family members. Can also refer to one's household.
家族は東京に住んでいます。
My family lives in Tokyo.
Refers to relatives, extended family, or kin beyond the immediate household.
お正月に親戚が集まります。
Relatives gather for New Year's.
Refers to one's own family or close relatives, often with a nuance of 'insiders' or 'one's own people'.
身内だけで式を挙げました。
We held the ceremony with just close family.
Referring to another person's family or relatives in a polite or formal context.
Polite form of 家族, used when referring to someone else's family.
ご家族はお元気ですか。
How is your family?
Polite form of 親戚, used when referring to someone else's relatives.
ご親戚の皆様によろしくお伝えください。
Please give my regards to your relatives.
Emphasizing blood relationship or ancestry.
Refers to blood relationship or blood relatives. Often used in formal or legal contexts.
血縁関係を調べる。
To investigate blood relations.
Refers to one's own flesh and blood, close blood relatives like parents, siblings, or children.
Legal term for blood relatives, often used in inheritance or family registry contexts.
Referring to the closest living relative, often in legal or emergency contexts.
Means 'close relative' or 'next of kin', used in formal or legal situations.
緊急連絡先として近親者を記入してください。
Please write down your next of kin as an emergency contact.
A broader term for relatives, including both blood and in-law relations, often used in legal contexts.
Referring to relatives through marriage rather than blood.
Refers to relatives by marriage, in-laws.
姻戚関係を大切にする。
To value relationships with in-laws.
Literally 'in-law relatives', a more colloquial way to refer to relatives by marriage.
義理の親戚づきあいも大変だ。
Dealing with in-laws is also tough.
Using 'kin' metaphorically to mean people who share a common bond or spirit.
The English word 'kin' is often used in a poetic or old-fashioned way. In Japanese, there is no single word that covers all nuances. Choose the appropriate term based on context: family (家族), relatives (親戚), blood relations (血縁), or in-laws (姻戚). Using the wrong term can sound unnatural or overly formal.
When talking about your own family to outsiders, use humble or neutral terms (家族, 親戚). When referring to someone else's family, add the honorific prefix ご (ご家族, ご親戚). This distinction is crucial in Japanese social interactions.
肉親の情に訴える。
To appeal to familial affection.
血族の範囲は法律で定められている。
The scope of blood relatives is defined by law.
親族が集まって遺産の話し合いをした。
The relatives gathered to discuss the inheritance.