Kanji 親 parent, intimacy, relative 眷 look around, regard affectionately 属 belong, genus, subordinate official Related words 親しん 族ぞく 親族 is a more common, everyday term for 'relatives', while 六親眷属 is a formal, literary expression emphasizing the entirety of one's kin.
親しん 類るい 親類 is a general term for relatives, less formal than 六親眷属 and without the nuance of including both blood and marriage ties explicitly.
Etymology The term originates from Buddhist and classical Chinese texts, where 六親 refers to six categories of close relatives (father, mother, elder brother, younger brother, wife, child) and 眷属 means 'family dependents' or 'household'. The exact derivation is uncertain, but the compound is used in Japanese to mean all of one's relatives.
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