Better than Tribe

[lightcastle]

This is something I've wanted to ask about for awhile, and another conversation has reminded me about it.

I've never liked "tribe" as it gets used by people for their group of friends/community/etc. There's the issue of its use in Native American political structure of course. That's a big part of it. But there's also the fact that it has from the very beginning been linked to blood and exclusion, specifically.

I do like the idea of a word for these sorts of self-chosen communities of friends and intimates or at least like-minded individuals, but "tribe" always rubbed me the wrong way.

So, does anyone have other words they like for this sort of thing? Clique seems too exclusionary. I seem to remember having once done a search and come across Clade as an option, but now I can't find any backing other than the biological nomenclature, so perhaps I am thinking of another word. Nakama seems too intimate, for instance.

Comments

[celtic_maenad]

Clan? Biological nomenclature, yes, but with somewhat more of an emphasis on multiple families together rather than of only a single bloodline.