príbuzný

Príbuzný is a term used in Czech and Slovak to designate a person who is related to someone by blood or by marriage. As a noun, it refers to a relative; the feminine form is príbuzná, and the plural forms are príbuzní (masculine or mixed gender) and príbuzné (feminine). As an adjective, príbuzný means related or kin, and it is used to describe kinship or relatedness, e.g., príbuzný vztah.

The concept covers a wide range of kin, from immediate family such as parents, siblings, and children to more distant relatives like cousins, aunts, uncles, and in-laws. In everyday language, specific terms exist for particular relationships (otec, matka, bratr, sestra; švagr, tchán, tchyně, etc.). Príbuzný serves as a general designation for the broader kin group.

In legal and genealogical contexts, the degree of príbuznost is used to describe how closely two people are related, often by counting generations to the nearest common ancestor. The term appears in family law, inheritance matters, and civil records, as well as in common speech when describing family connections.

Etymology: príbuzný derives from the Slavic roots associated with kinship, with cognates in other Slavic languages. In both Czech and Slovak, the word is a basic part of the vocabulary for family and kin, widely used across formal and informal speech.