familiar
Pluralfamiliars
- 1Known to a person, or widely recognized; commonplace.
The streets near her childhood home were still familiar after twenty years.
Email scams often use familiar logos to seem trustworthy.
UsageSomething is familiar to you; you are familiar with it. Sounds familiar or looks familiar for something half-recognized.
Similarrecognizable, known, well-known, common, everyday
Oppositeunfamiliar, unknown, strange, unrecognizable
Note
It pairs readily with adverbs of weary recognition, as in the "depressingly familiar note" of Margery Allingham's The China Governess, and sounds familiar is the stock phrase for something half-recognized.
- 2Having knowledge of something through study or experience; acquainted with it.
The lawyer was familiar with every clause in the contract.
Most students are familiar with basic algebra by tenth grade.
UsageA person is familiar with something; a thing is familiar to a person: familiar with algebra.
Similaracquainted, conversant, versed, knowledgeable
Oppositeunfamiliar, unacquainted, ignorant
- 3Marked by closeness or friendliness; intimate in manner.
Her familiar tone with the manager surprised the new hires.
She was a little too familiar with the new manager, calling him by a nickname on her first day.
UsageOn familiar terms is warm; being too familiar with someone usually means taking liberties.
Similarintimate, friendly, informal, casual, relaxed
Oppositeformal, distant, reserved, aloof
Note
Friendliness can tip into presumption here. Shakespeare's Hamlet holds both edges in "Be thou familiar; but by no means vulgar." To be on familiar terms is warm, while being too familiar with someone means taking liberties, as in the rebuke don't be familiar with me, boy! The word goes back to Latin familiāris, belonging to the household.
Less common meanings
- 4An attendant spirit serving a witch or magician, often taking the form of an animal or demon.
The familiar crept along the rafters while its mistress brewed her potions.
Her familiar, a sleek raven, perched on the windowsill during the ritual.
UsageUsually with a possessive: the witch's familiar, her familiar.
Note
Witchcraft gives the word its most vivid life. Rollo Ahmed's The Black Art (1936) insists that magicians' familiars were not always evil, likening them to the "guides" of spiritualists, and in Richard Carpenter's Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac (1971) a familiar is small enough to ride in a special pocket.
- 5Relating to or belonging to a family; familial.
1822, Lord Byron, Werner familiar feuds
Note
The household sense lies closest to the Latin, and familial, the word's doublet, now does this job. When Byron wrote of "familiar feuds" in Werner (1822), he meant quarrels within a family, not quarrels everyone knew about. In older writing, test this reading against the "well-known" meaning before choosing.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- The household sense reflects the meaning of the Latin source word. en.wiktionary.org
- Familial is a doublet of familiar, more precisely a piecewise doublet. en.wiktionary.org
- Byron wrote the phrase “familiar feuds” in Werner; Ulric speaks the words. gutenberg.org
- Werner was first published in 1822. en.wikipedia.org
- Familiar in Byron's phrase means pertaining to a family. en.wiktionary.org
- 6A close or intimate friend.
Note
Robert Burton, writing as Democritus Junior in The Anatomy of Melancholy, describes a man saved only because "some of his familiars" happened to visit. That plural for close friends no longer belongs to modern English. The idea lives on in the adjective, the "intimate" meaning, as in on familiar terms. As a noun for a friend, keep it for period writing or deliberate archaism.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Robert Burton wrote The Anatomy of Melancholy under the name Democritus Junior. catalog.etoncollege.com
- Burton describes a man rescued from danger because visitors he calls "some of his familiars" happened to arrive. gutenberg.org
- The quoted noun means close friends. en.wiktionary.org
- 7A person belonging to one's family or household.
Note
The household of the Latin root included its servants, and so did this obsolete noun: a familiar could be kin, steward or dependent, anyone living under the roof. The idea survives only in the narrower church use, a bishop's household member. For family members today, write relative or household member instead.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The word has a Latin source associated with servants and the household. en.wiktionary.org
- The Latin household included relatives and servants. en.wiktionary.org
- The English noun could denote a family or household member, including resident servants or dependants. en.wiktionary.org
- There is a narrower sense referring to a bishop's household member. en.wiktionary.org
- 8A member of the household of a pope or bishop.
- 9An officer of the Inquisition charged with arresting people suspected of heresy or other offenses.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
This word came through Middle English "familiar" from Latin "familiāris," meaning pertaining to servants or the household. It can be seen as "family" plus "-ar," and it replaced the native Old English word "hīwcūþ."
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The word came through Middle English familiar from Latin familiāris. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin familiāris means pertaining to servants or the household. en.wiktionary.org
- The word can be analyzed as family plus -ar. en.wiktionary.org
- The word displaced native Old English hīwcūþ. en.wiktionary.org