Plural form referring to relatives by marriage; people connected by affinity rather than blood kinship.
From Latin affīnis 'person related by marriage' (from ad- 'to' + fīnis 'boundary'), which the -es suffix forms into the plural. The term comes from the concept of people sharing a family boundary through marriage.
Anthropologists studying marriage patterns often distinguish between 'consanguines' (blood relatives) and 'affines' (relatives-by-marriage)—in some cultures, affines are treated completely differently in ceremonies, inheritance rules, and social roles than blood relatives are.
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