Kin Groups and Descent. The aboriginal Karok recognized no social groups other than the family, within which descent was patrilineal.
Kinship Terminology. The basic terms father, mother, son, and daughter are used without extensions of meaning. Grandparents and grandchildren are designated by three reciprocal terms: male grandrelative through a woman (mother's father or daughter's son), female grandrelative through a woman, and grandrelative through a man. Siblings are distinguished as male and female, older and younger. There is a complex set of terms referring to deceased relatives, and another for relatives through a deceased person—corresponding to a taboo on reference to the dead.