Definition of "gens" []

• A patrilineal clan of ancient Rome composed of several families of the same name claiming a common ancestor and belonging to a common religious cult. (noun)
• Anthropology An exogamous patrilineal clan. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Page 103. 3. vieilles gens: attributive adjectives are generally _feminine_ when preceding and _masculine_ when following _gens_."
• "Her name is that of a brahmin gens – the Vāseṭṭhas – yet she is not called a brahmin in her own legend."
• "The generic label gens du voyage (travelers) covers not only tsigane (roughly "gypsies"), who went to France over the centuries, but also manouches who arrived from Germany in the 19th century, Spanish-origin gitanes and the more recent Roma."