Family (noun) means a group of people related by blood, marriage, or adoption. More broadly, it refers to any group of related things — such as a word family or a family of languages. As an attributive adjective, family means suitable for all ages: a family film, a family restaurant.
What Does Family Mean?
Family comes from Latin familia, meaning a household (including servants and dependants), derived from famulus (servant). It entered English in the 15th century directly from Latin, and over time narrowed in meaning to refer specifically to a group of blood relatives or people living together as a social unit.
In everyday English, family is one of the most versatile and frequent words you will encounter. It appears in social contexts ("I am spending the weekend with my family"), in education and linguistics ("Learn words in word families"), in compound nouns ("family home", "family business"), and in adjective position ("a family-friendly hotel"). Because of this range, understanding all three uses — people, groups of related things, and the adjective — is essential for natural-sounding English.
Note also the related adjective familial (formal; relating to the family unit: familial bonds) and familiar, which originally meant "of the household" but now primarily means "well known" or "easy to recognise". The suffix -family is productive in compound nouns: word family, language family, drug family, musical family.
Example Sentences
| Sentence | Level & usage note |
|---|---|
| My family has a dog and two cats. | A2 — simple possessive; singular verb (common in British English too at this level) |
| We are going on a family holiday to Scotland next summer. | B1 — family as attributive adjective; common fixed collocation |
| She comes from a large extended family with cousins all over the country. | B1 — extended family; contrast with nuclear family |
| English, German, and Dutch all belong to the same language family. | B2 — family in the linguistics/classification sense |
| A word family groups together related words with the same root, enabling learners to acquire vocabulary more efficiently. | C1 — academic register; word family as a grammatical/lexical term |
Collocations
| Collocation | Meaning / Example |
|---|---|
| nuclear family | Two parents and their children: The nuclear family is the basic social unit in many cultures. |
| extended family | Relatives beyond parents and children: Her extended family includes three sets of grandparents. |
| start a family | To have children: They plan to start a family after they buy a house. |
| raise a family | To bring up children: It is hard to raise a family on one income. |
| family member | A person belonging to the family: Every family member was invited to the reunion. |
| family home | The house where a family lives or grew up: They sold the family home after the children left. |
| single-parent family | A family with one adult carer: Support services for single-parent families have improved. |
| family business | A business owned or run by family members: The bakery has been a family business for three generations. |
| close-knit family | A family with strong bonds: She grew up in a close-knit family who all lived in the same town. |
| word family | A set of words sharing the same root: The word family of 'act' includes action, actor, and active. |
Usage Notes
Key Usage Points
- Singular or plural verb? In British English, collective nouns like family can take either a singular or plural verb. Use the plural when you are thinking of the members individually: My family are all coming. Use the singular when treating the family as one unit: My family is the most important thing in my life.
- Attributive adjective: When family comes before a noun it acts as an adjective and never takes a plural form: a family ticket, family values, a family restaurant. Do not say families values.
- No article needed in set phrases: In expressions like family comes first or a matter of family, no article is used. This is similar to other institution nouns such as school, church, and prison.
- Plural form: Families is used when referring to multiple distinct family units: Many families in the area were affected by the flooding.
Common Mistakes
Watch Out For
All my families live in the same street. (families = multiple units, not members of one)
All my family live in the same street. (one family unit, plural verb)
She is very families-oriented. (adjective form is wrong)
She is very family-oriented. (family as modifier, no plural, hyphenated)
We had a families holiday. (adjective use does not pluralise)
We had a family holiday. (family is invariable as an attributive adjective)