Entry · catalog no. 0009
kinfolk
/ ˈkɪnˌfoʊk /KIN-fohk
noun · U.S. South · historic
✓ Verified
1.
Family — blood and chosen; the community you belong to and answer to.
“All my kinfolk came through for the reunion.”
Origin & Attribution
Long-standing in Black Southern and diasporic speech, where kinship extends past bloodline into community obligation and care.
19th c.
Kinship networks under and after slavery
20th c.
Central to Black Southern family life
now
A term of belonging
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The South
U.S. South · historic
Spoken by
Black Southern families
$KINFOLThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Enduring156 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
40/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1870
in the culture
Recorded here
2024
point of first record
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@nolakid
New Orleans, LA
@htxdri
Houston, TX
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