来自苏格兰盖尔语clann,家族，种族，来自拉丁语planta,新枝，植物，后代。因盖尔语字母 p 不能用做首字母，因而用字母c 代替。比较pole,collar,cycle,来自PIE*kwel,转。
英文词源
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."
双语例句
1. The men mustered before their clan chiefs.
男人们聚集在族长们面前。
来自柯林斯例句
2. one of a growing clan of stars who have left Hollywood
脱离了好莱坞的那帮人数日益增多的明星中的一员
来自《权威词典》
3. The Chinese Christians, therefore, practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.
所以, 中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了.
来自《简明英汉词典》
4. She ranks as my junior in the clan.
她的辈分比我小.
来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
5. Joseph Kennedy, the clan's patriarch, communicated with Bobby in a series of notes.