來自蘇格蘭蓋爾語clann,家族，種族，來自拉丁語planta,新枝，植物，後代。因蓋爾語字母 p 不能用做首字母，因而用字母c 代替。比較pole,collar,cycle,來自PIE*kwel,轉。
英文詞源
clan
clan: [14] The immediate source of clan is naturally enough Gaelic, but ultimately it comes, somewhat unexpectedly, from Latin, for etymologically it is the same word as plant. Scots Gaelic clann originally meant ‘offspring’ (hence the modern meaning ‘family group’), and it came from Old Irish cland, a direct borrowing from Latin planta (the Celtic languages of the British Isles tended to change Latin /p/ to /k/).
This was the source of English plant, but it did not then have nearly such a broad application; it meant specifically ‘shoot suitable for planting out’, and the connotations of ‘new growth’ and ‘offspring’ show up in the Gaelic borrowing. => plant
clan (n.)
early 15c., from Gaelic clann "family, stock, offspring," akin to Old Irish cland "offspring, tribe," both from Latin planta "offshoot" (see plant (n.)). The Goidelic branch of Celtic (including Gaelic) had no initial p-, so it substituted k- or c- for Latin p-. The same Latin word in (non-Goidelic) Middle Welsh became plant "children."
雙語例句
1. The men mustered before their clan chiefs.
男人們聚集在族長們麵前。
來自柯林斯例句
2. one of a growing clan of stars who have left Hollywood
脫離了好萊塢的那幫人數日益增多的明星中的一員
來自《權威詞典》
3. The Chinese Christians, therefore, practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.
所以, 中國的基督徒簡直是被逐出了自己的家族了.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
4. She ranks as my junior in the clan.
她的輩分比我小.
來自《現代漢英綜合大詞典》
5. Joseph Kennedy, the clan's patriarch, communicated with Bobby in a series of notes.