TheMacedonian languagehas one of the more elaboratekinship(сродство,роднинство) systems among European languages. Most words are common to otherSlavic languages,though some derive fromTurkish.Terminology may differ from place to place; the terms used in theStandardare listed below, dialectical or regional forms are marked[Dial.]and colloquial forms[Coll.].
There are four main types of kinship in the family: biologicala.k.a.blood kinship, kinship by law (in-laws), spiritual kinship (such asgodparents), and legal kinship through adoption and remarriage.[1]Traditionally, three generations of a family will live together in a home in what anthropologists call ajoint familystructure (reminiscent of the historicalzadrugaunits), where parents, their son(s), and grandchildren would cohabit in a family home.[2]
Words for relations up to five generations removed—great-great-grandparents and great-great-grandchildren—are in common use. The fourth-generation terms are also used as generics for ancestors and descendants. There is no distinction between the maternal and paternal line.
Macedoniandoes not have separate terms for first cousins, second cousins and so forth, but usesвтор братучед(lit. "second cousin" ),трет братучед(lit. "third cousin" ), etc.