fam

C2+ Topic:Communication

US /fæm/ UK /fæm/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
informal term for one's family or close friends

I'm spending the holidays with the fam.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · informal term for one's... family kin folks crew squad

Word family

Related forms family familial familiar

Etymology

A 20th-/21st-century colloquial clipping of 'family', used in slang to mean one's family or close-knit group of friends. 'Family' is from Latin 'familia' ('household').

familia Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Communication Register & Style

External links

# fam

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /fæm/
**IPA (UK):** /fæm/

## Meanings
1. informal term for one's family or close friends

## Examples
- I'm spending the holidays with the fam.

## Synonyms
- family
- kin
- folks
- crew
- squad

## Related Forms
- family
- familial
- familiar

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: familia

## Etymology
A 20th-/21st-century colloquial clipping of 'family', used in slang to mean one's family or close-knit group of friends. 'Family' is from Latin 'familia' ('household').

## AI Etymology
Fam is a 20th-/21st-century colloquial clipping of 'family', used in slang to mean one's family or close-knit group of friends. 'Family' is from Latin 'familia' ('household'). The development is chiefly a borrowing or learned continuation, carrying an older form and meaning into English rather than building the word from a purely native base. In present use, it is used as a noun meaning "informal term for one's family or close friends", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes related forms such as family, familial, and familiar, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Latin familia, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance. Its semantic neighborhood includes family, kin, folks, and crew, locating the modern specialization without adding a new origin story.

## Topics
- Communication
- Register & Style

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fam

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