Word.ws English Dictionary

nonkin

nonkin noun: a person who is not one's relative.

Noun

nonkin (plural nonkins or nonkin)

  1. (plural) A person who is not one's relative.
    • When it is necessary to state an unpleasant truth or an opposing opinion, or to make a request of a nonkin, it is done in as pleasant a speech as possible.1969, Frederic H. Chaffee, American University (Washington, D.C.). Foreign Area Studies, Area Handbook for the Philippines (page 176)
    • Table 3b: The general frequency of friendly contacts with in the same matriline and with nonkins in the group of Macaca arctoides.1990, Primate Report, numbers 28-31, page 33

Forms of nonkin

pluralnonkins
pluralnonkin
alternative formnon-kin

Origin of nonkin

From non- + kin.

Questions about nonkin

What does nonkin mean?
Nonkin means a person who is not one's relative.
What part of speech is nonkin?
Nonkin is a noun.
What is the plural of nonkin?
The plural of nonkin is nonkins.

Words near nonkin in the dictionary

  1. nonkeyboard
  2. nonkiller
  3. nonkillers
  4. nonkilling
  5. nonkillings
  6. nonkin
  7. nonkinase
  8. nonkinases
  9. nonkindergarten
  10. nonkindness
  11. nonkinematic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nonkin (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.

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