gens

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

gens, n. [L. See Gentle, a.].

•  A clan or family connection, embracing several families of the same stock, who had a common name and certain common religious rites; a subdivision of the Roman curia or tribe.  [1913 Webster]
•  A minor subdivision of a tribe, among American aborigines. It includes those who have a common descent, and bear the same totem.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

gens, n. (pl. gentes)
1 Rom.Hist. a group of families sharing a name and claiming a common origin.
2 Anthropol. a number of people sharing descent through the male line.

Etymology

L, f. the root of gignere beget

THESAURUS

gens

animal kingdom, ashram, blood, body, breed, brood, caste, clan, class, colony, commonwealth, commune, community, deme, economic class, endogamous group, extended family, family, folk, house, kind, kinship group, line, lineage, matriclan, moiety, nation, nuclear family, order, patriclan, people, phratria, phratry, phyle, plant kingdom, race, sept, settlement, social class, society, species, stem, stirps, stock, strain, subcaste, totem, tribe