Word.ws English Dictionary

familial

Syllables: fa·mil·ialUK/fəˈmɪljəl/

familial adjective: of or pertaining to a human family.

familial: of or pertaining to a human family
Image: DFID - UK Department for International Development, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

familial (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to a human family.
    • Mark had to leave work due to familial obligations.
    • Asylums and the Care of the Insane.—Dr. Wille, the director of the recently opened asylum for the Canton of Zurich, at Rheinau, delivered a lecture on this subject to the Swiss Association of Alienists. […] In discussing the mode of providing for the incurable, he refers to the familial system and...1870 April, John Sibbald, “German Psychological Literature”, in Henry Maudsley, John Sibbald, editors, The Journal of Mental Science, volume XVI, number 73 (New Series, number 37), London: Published...
  2. Pertaining to a taxon at the rank of family.
    • Having milky latex is a familial characteristic of Apocynaceae.
  3. Of or pertaining to any grouping of things referred to as a family.
    • "Grandfather", "mother", and "brother" are some English familial terms.
    • The late Eocene was a fascinating time with respect to community changes among terrestrial organisms. Among the mammals, for example, the greatest worldwide ordinal (26 total) and familial (about 120, plus bats and modern-type whales) diversity occurred.1973, Jason A. Lillegraven, “Terrestrial Eocene Vertebrates from San Diego County, California”, in Arnold Ross, Robert J. Dowlen, editors, Studies on the Geology and Geologic Hazards of the Greater...
  4. Inherited.
    • fatal familial insomnia
    • Cerebral CMs [cavernous malformations] are, for the majority of cases, sporadic lesions. However, familial incidences have been documented for quite some time. In 1928, Kufs reported two cases: an 81-year-old man who presented with "multiple intercranial nodular telangiectases," and his daughter...1993, Frank P. K. Hsu, Daniele Rigamonti, Stephen L. Huhn, “Epidemiology of Cavernous Malformations”, in Issam A. Awad, Daniel L. Barrow, editors, Cavernous Malformations, Park Ridge, Ill.: American...

familial meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

familial in Hindi

of or pertaining to a human family
पारिवारिक pārivārik

familial in Tamil

குடும்பத்தன்மையான, குடும்பத்துக்குரிய, குடும்ப, குடும்பவழி

familial in Marathi

of or pertaining to a human family
कुटुंबीय kuṭumbīy, कौटुंबिक kauṭumbik

familial in Urdu

of or pertaining to a human family
عائِلی 'āilī
More languagesFewer languages
familial in Bengali
পারিবারিক paribarik
familial in Arabic
أُسْرِيّ ʔusriyy, عَائِلِيّ ʕāʔiliyy

Examples of familial in a sentence

  • We are not asked to reply to the majesty of Huitzilopochtli, the sexuality of Tlazolteotl, the largess of Tlaloc, or the familial warmth of Xiuhteuctli.1979, Burr Cartwright Brundage, “The Quality of the Numinous”, in The Fifth Sun: Aztec Gods, Aztec World (Texas Pan American Series), 1st...
  • But also he brought back the fun, encouraging a familial atmosphere with barbecues, bottles of wine handed out, and bonding sessions with players and club staff.2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in The Guardian, London, archived...
  • Stamen number, for example, can be a familial, generic or specific character, or vary greatly within one taxon.1991, Clive A[nthony] Stace, “Structural Information”, in Plant Taxonomy and Biosystematics, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University...
  • However, familial incidences have been documented for quite some time.1993, Frank P. K. Hsu, Daniele Rigamonti, Stephen L. Huhn, “Epidemiology of Cavernous Malformations”, in Issam A. Awad, Daniel L. Barrow...

All 21 example sentences with familial

Origin of familial

From French familial (“relating to a family; familial”), from Latin familia (“family (in the sense of the slaves working for a household); household”) (from famulus (“servant; slave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁-m-eló-, from *dʰeh₁- (“to do, place, put”)) + French -al (adjective-forming suffix) (from Latin -ālis, from Proto-Indo-European *-li-). By surface analysis, family + -al. Piecewise doublet of familiar.

Words formed from familial

Phrases with familial

Questions about familial

What does familial mean?
Familial means of or pertaining to a human family.
What is familial in Hindi?
Familial in Hindi is पारिवारिक (pārivārik). See Familial meaning in Hindi.
How do you use familial in a sentence?
We are not asked to reply to the majesty of Huitzilopochtli, the sexuality of Tlazolteotl, the largess of Tlaloc, or the familial warmth of Xiuhteuctli.
What part of speech is familial?
Familial is an adjective.
How do you pronounce familial?
Familial is pronounced /fəˈmɪljəl/ (UK).

Words near familial in the dictionary

  1. familar
  2. familect
  3. familects
  4. familia
  5. familiae
  6. familial
  7. familial British dementia
  8. familial DNA
  9. familial Mediterranean fever
  10. familial Mediterranean fevers
  11. familialism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: familial (page history and authors); familial (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-familial.ogg.

Cite this entry: “familial.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/familial. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.