familiar
UK/fəˈmɪl.i.ə//fəˈmɪl.jəɹ/
familiar adjective: known to one, or generally known; commonplace.
Adjective
familiar (comparative more familiar, superlative most familiar)
- Known to one, or generally known; commonplace.
- There’s a familiar face; that tune sounds familiar.
- The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249
- Acquainted.
- I'm quite familiar with this system; she's not familiar with manual gears.
- Synonyms:
- acquainted
- Intimate or friendly.
- We are on familiar terms now; our neighbour is not familiar
- Don’t be familiar with me, boy!
- Of or pertaining to a family; familial.
- familiar feuds1822, Lord Byron, Werner
Noun
familiar (plural familiars)
- An attendant spirit, often in animal or demon form.
- The witch’s familiar was a black cat.
- The familiars of the magicians, on the other hand, were not in all cases evil, and often may have approximated the "guides" with whom present-day spiritualists are well acquainted.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 75
- A member of one's family or household.
- A member of a pope's or bishop's household.
- A close friend.
- [A] friend of mine, that finding a Receipt in Braſsivola, would needs take Hellebor in ſubſtance, & try it on his own perſon; but had not ſome of his familiars come to viſite him by chance, he had by his indiſcretion hazarded himſelfe; many ſuch I have obſerued.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Concerning the Patient”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry...
- The officer of the Inquisition who arrested suspected people.
familiar meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
familiar in Hindi
- known to one
- परिचित paricit
- acquainted
- परिचित paricit
- intimate or friendly
- परिचित paricit
familiar in Tamil
- பரிச்சயமான, பழக்கமான
familiar in Marathi
- known to one
- परिचित paricit, ओळखीचे oḷkhīce, ओळखीची oḷkhīcī, ओळखीचा oḷkhīcā
familiar in Urdu
- familiar, intimate, attached
- مانوس mānūs
More languagesFewer languages
- familiar in Bengali
- চেনা cena
- familiar in Telugu
- సుపరిచితం, సుపరిచితులు, సుపరిచితమైనవి
- familiar in Malayalam
- പരിചയമുള്ള paricayamuḷḷa, പരിചിതം paricitaṁ
- familiar in Kannada
- ಪರಿಚಿತ, ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಗೊತ್ತಿರುವ, ವಾಡಿಕೆಯ, ಸದರವಾದ
- familiar in Gujarati
- પરિચિત
- familiar in Sinhala
- හුරුපුරුදු hurupurudu
- familiar in Tagalog
- pamilyar, mahilway
- familiar in Arabic
- مَأْلُوف maʔlūf
- familiar in Indonesian
- familier, akrab
- familiar in Persian
- آشنا âšnâ, âšenâ
- familiar in Thai
- เป็นมิตร bpen-mít
- familiar in Vietnamese
- sứ ma
Examples of familiar in a sentence
- Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
- Be thou familiar; but by no meanes vulgar:[…]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies...
- "What power hath gold?" Catweazle wondered as he picked up his familiar and put him in his special pocket.1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 8:
Synonyms of familiar
Antonyms
4 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of familiar
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more familiar |
| superlative | most familiar |
| Noun | |
| plural | familiars |
Origin of familiar
From Middle English familiar, familier, from Latin familiāris (“pertaining to servants; pertaining to the household”). By surface analysis, family + -ar. Piecewise doublet of familial. Displaced native Old English hīwcūþ.
Words formed from familiar
Phrases with familiar
Questions about familiar
- What does familiar mean?
- Familiar means known to one, or generally known; commonplace.
- What is familiar in Hindi?
- Familiar in Hindi is परिचित (paricit). See Familiar meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use familiar in a sentence?
- Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.
- What part of speech is familiar?
- Familiar can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce familiar?
- Familiar is pronounced /fəˈmɪl.i.ə/ (UK).
Words near familiar in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: familiar (page history and authors); familiar (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); مانوس (Urdu) (page history and authors); চেনা (Bengali) (page history and authors); familiar (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); familiar (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); familiar (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); හුරුපුරුදු (Sinhala) (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-us-familiar.ogg.
Cite this entry: “familiar.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/familiar. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.