kindred

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 27, 2020 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>kindred</strong> &#149; \KIN-drud\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><strong>1 :</strong> of a similar nature or character <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/like#h3">like</a></p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> of the same ancestry</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"Osterholm over the last few decades has been part of expert panels addressing … infectious <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zoonotic">zoonotic</a> viruses <em>kindred</em> to Covid-19 such as Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)." — <a href="https://mountainjournal.org/chronic-wasting-disease-is-a-homegrown-american-epidemic">Todd Wilkinson, <em>The Mountain Journal</em> (Bozeman, Montana), 12 Apr. 2020</a></p> <p>"This study also highlights how identifying with the personality traits of a musician who feels like a <em>kindred</em> spirit can have positive psychological benefits for the listener.…" — <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/202007/fans-are-drawn-musicians-who-feel-kindred-spirits">Christopher Bergland, <em>Psychology Today</em>, 5 July 2020</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>If you believe that advice and relatives are inseparable, the etymology of <em>kindred</em> will prove you right. <em>Kindred</em> comes from a combination of <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kin">kin</a></em> and the Old English word <em>ræden</em> ("condition"), which itself comes from the verb <em>rædan</em>, meaning "to advise." <em>Kindred</em> entered English as a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kindred#h2">noun</a> first during the Middle Ages. That noun, which can refer to a group of related individuals or to one's own rel