(pl. -ies)
1
- treated as sing. or pl. a group consisting of two parents and their children living together as a unit家, 家庭。
1.1
- a group of people related to one another by blood or marriage家属; 亲属：
friends and family can provide support.
朋友和家属可提供帮助。
1.2
- the children of a person or couple being discussed子女：
she has the sole responsibility for a large family.
她要单独承担抚养一大群子女的责任。
1.3
- mass noun a person or people related to one and so to be treated with a special loyalty or intimacy派别：
I could not turn him away, for he was family.
我不能把他拒之门外, 因为他和我是一派的。
1.4
- a group of people united in criminal activity犯罪团伙; 犯罪家族。
1.5
- Biology a principal taxonomic category that ranks above genus and below order, usually ending in -idae (in zoology) or -aceae (in botany)【生】科。
1.6
- a group of objects united by a significant shared characteristic（具有明显共同特征的）一类东西。
1.7
- Mathematics a group of curves or surfaces obtained by varying the value of a constant in the equation generating them【数】族。
2
- all the descendants of a common ancestor（有共同祖先的）家族：
the house has been owned by the same family for 300 years.
这所房子300年来一直为同一家族所拥有。
2.1
- a race or group of peoples from a common stock氏族。
2.2
- all the languages ultimately derived from a particular early language, regarded as a group语族：
the Austronesian language family.
南岛语族。
attrib.
- designed to be suitable for children as well as adults老少咸宜的：
a family newspaper.
成年人和未成年人都可以看的报纸。
短语
the（或one's）family jewels
- informal a man's genitals〈非正式〉男性生殖器。
in the family way
- informal pregnant〈非正式〉怀孕的。
词源
late Middle English （in sense 2; also denoting the servants of a household or the retinue of a nobleman）： from Latin familia 'household servants, household, family', from famulus 'servant'.