Emily Dickinson Lexicon

KIN, n. [Sax. cyn, cynn, or cind, gecynd, kind, genus, race, relation; Ir. cine; G. kind, a child; D. kind; W. cenal, cenaw; L. genus; Gr. γενος; connected with L. gigno, geno, Gr. γινομαι; Class Gn, No. 29. See Begin.]

1. Relation, properly by consanguinity or blood, but perhaps sometimes used for relation by affinity or marriage. This man is of kin to me. – Bacon. Dryden.
2. Relatives; kindred; persons of the same race. The father, mother and the kin beside. – Dryden.
3. A relation; a relative. – Davies.
4. The same generical class; a thing related. And the ear-deafening voice of th' oracle, / Kin to Jove's thunder. – Shak.
5. As a termination, kin is used as a diminutive, denoting small, from the sense of child; as in manikin, a little man; Tompkin, Wilkin, Pipkin.