Webster's English Dictionary

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family

1. fam.i.ly \'fam-(*-)le-\ n [ME familie, fr. L familia household 
   (including servants as well as] kin of the householder), fr. famulus 
   servant; perh. akin to Skt dha-man dwelling place 1: FELLOWSHIP  2: a group 
   of persons of common ancestry : CLAN  3: a group of individuals living 
   under one roof and usu. under one head :  HOUSEHOLD 4a: a group of things 
   related by common characteristics or properties  4b: a group of soils that 
   have similar profiles and include one or more ser ies 5: the basic unit in 
   society having as its nucleus two or more adults livin g together and 
   cooperating in the care and rearing of their own or adopted children 6a: a 
   group of related plants or animals forming a category ranking above a  
   genus and below an order and usu. comprising several to many genera in 
   livestock breeding  6b1: the descendants or line of a particular individual 
   esp. of some outsta nding female 6b2: an identifiable strain within a breed 
    6c: an ecological community consisting of a single kind of organism and 
   usu . being of limited extent and representing an early stage of succession 
   7: a set of curves or surfaces whose equations differ only in parameters 
2. family aj : of or relating to a family