consanguinity
Consanguinity (noun) means a blood relationship between people who share a common ancestor. Example: “The court needed proof of consanguinity before approving the inheritance claim.”
How to use consanguinity
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishConsanguinity just means being blood relatives, sharing an ancestor somewhere in the family line.
It is a formal, mostly legal or genealogical word, rarely used in everyday conversation.
If you can replace it with the plainer phrase blood relationship without losing meaning, you have understood it correctly.
Trace the full origin ↓Fill the gap
Can you complete this real example?
The court needed proof of _____ before approving the inheritance claim.
Etymology
Consanguinity entered English through Middle English and Middle French, both of which took it from the Latin word consanguinitas. That Latin word was built from com-, meaning together, and sanguineus, meaning of blood, itself from sanguis, meaning blood.
