consanguinity

Definition of Consanguinity

(noun) Literally, related by blood; a type of kinship involving descent from a common biological ancestor.

Example of Consanguinity

• A brother and sister born from the same father and mother.
  

Consanguinity Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: con·san·guin·i·ty

Audio Pronunciation

Usage Notes

• Plural: consanguinities
• Two people with a consanguineal relationship are called consanguines. An example is a biological brother and sister.
• Collateral consanguinity refers to blood relatives who are not biologically descended from the same father or mother such as cousins, either cross-cousins or parallel cousins. Lineal consanguinity refers to blood relatives biologically descended from each other such as an individual’s biological father and mother. Collateral consanguinity and lineal consanguinity are typically used in law to determine the inheritance of property, who can testify in certain situations, and the legality of a marriage between two people to avoid incest.
• Kinship relationships based on descent are called consanguineal relations.
•  A consanguineous marriage, marriage by two people closely related by blood, are illegal in many jurisdictions due to consanguinity laws.
• Lewis Henry Morgan’s (1818–1881) Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity in the Human Family (1871) and Claude Lévi-Strauss’ (1908–2009) The Elementary Structures of Kinship (1949), help establish the study of kinship as a distinct field of anthropology and sociology. Morgan and Lévi-Strauss among other kinship writers were critiqued by David M. Schneider (1918–1995) in American Kinship: A Cultural Account and A Critique of the Study of Kinship (1984). Schneider’s work reinvigorated the study of kinship.
• Affinity (related by marriage) is the opposite of consanguinity.
• A type of kinship.
• Also called:
  • blood kinship
  • blood relationship
  • cognation
  • same-bloodedness
• A biological brother and sister are (adverb) consanguineously related and have a (adjective) consanguineous or (adjective) consanguineal relationship.

Additional Information

• Family and Kinship Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
• Word origin of “consanguinity” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
• Bittles, Alan H. 2012. Consanguinity in Context. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
• Hamamy, Hanan. 2012. “Consanguineous Marriages: Preconception Consultation in Primary Health Care Settings.” Journal of Community Genetics 3(3):185–92. doi:10.1007/s12687-011-0072-y
• Morgan, Lewis Henry. 1871. Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.

Related Terms

• blended family
• conjugal family
• extended family
• family life cycle
• family of orientation
• family of procreation
• family planning
• marriage
• nuclear family
• subfamily

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Works Consulted

Abercrombie, Nicholas, Stephen Hill, and Bryan Turner. 2006. The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology. 5th ed. London: Penguin.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Bruce, Steve, and Steven Yearley. 2006. The SAGE Dictionary of Sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Collins English Dictionary: Complete and Unabridged. 6th ed. 2003. Glasgow, Scotland: Collins.

Jary, David, and Julia Jary. 2000. Collins Dictionary of Sociology. 3rd ed. Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins.

Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).

Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).

Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).

Princeton University. 2010. WordNet. (https://wordnet.princeton.edu/).

Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. 1997. New York: Random House.

Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall. 2005. A Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.

Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).

Cite the Definition of Consanguinity

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “consanguinity.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved November 28, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/consanguinity/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

consanguinity. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/consanguinity/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “consanguinity.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed November 28, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/consanguinity/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“consanguinity.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 28 Nov. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/consanguinity/>.