族

• Kinship/Social Unit: A clan or lineage; a broad network of people sharing common descent.
• Categorical/Collective: A class, type, or cluster of things sharing a common nature (extending in later texts to "ethnic group" or "tribe").

Primarily used as a noun. When acting as a modifier in a string of nouns, it often indicates collective scope (e.g., "the whole group of," "as a class").

// vs 家 (jiā): //Jiā// refers to the domestic household unit; //zú* refers to the wider kinship group.

// vs 宗 (zōng): //Zōng// emphasizes the ritual center, ancestral root, or head of lineage; //zú// refers to the collective body of descendants. Together as //zōngzú*, they encompass the entire kinship system.

// vs 姓 (xìng) and 氏 (shì): //Xìng// is the ancestral name/totem and //shì// is the branch or lineage name; //zú* refers to the actual people comprising these groups.

The association with the arrow component (矢) suggests that in early contexts, the //zú// was not merely a social unit but a military one, implying strong mutual obligation and solidarity.

Regarding register: In early texts, "clan" or "lineage" usually better reflects high-prestige social structures than "tribe."