Concerning or having a family relationship by marriage.
〔人类学〕与姻亲相关的;有姻亲的
Example sentencesExamples
Does it belong to the birth family or the affinal family?
Consanguineal relatives are considered more important than are affinal relatives.
Buffaloes, preferably full-grown bulls, are involved in funerals in two ways: some are contributed by consanguineal relatives and others are lent by affinal kin or even friends.
Nucleated villages consisted of two localised clan branches, one from each moiety, which maintained complex and enduring affinal, political, economic, and ritual relations of reciprocity of various sorts.
Most cases illustrated here concern fine-tuning of the affinal category in such a way that it is possible to establish the necessary distinctions among classificatory in-laws, potential in-laws and actual in-laws.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from Latin affinis 'related' (see affinity)+ -al.