Relatives

Relatives are people connected to an individual through blood, marriage, or adoption. The term covers a range of relationships from close family members to distant kin and is used in legal, social, and cultural contexts to describe how people are related to one another.

Blood relatives, or consanguines, share common ancestors; relatives by marriage are connected through a spouse, sometimes called in-laws. Adoptive relatives are linked through legal adoption and can form a recognized family bond that supplements or replaces birth ties.

Common categories include the immediate family (parents, siblings, and children) and the extended family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and beyond). Different cultures assign varying degrees of importance to distant kin, and kinship terms differ across languages, reflecting social norms about who counts as a relative and how closeness is measured.

In many places, relatives play roles in legal and practical matters, such as designation of next of kin, inheritance, guardianship, and caregiving. Marriages add in-laws; adoptions and step-relations create new ties that function as family life in daily practice.

Contemporary tools such as genealogical research and genetic testing have increased awareness of biological connections beyond everyday social ties. Regardless of culture, relatives commonly contribute to family history, support networks, and social identity, though expectations and responsibilities vary widely.