What's the difference between the word "Tribe" and "Clan."?

Question

Also, how big can a tribe and a clan be?

Answer 1

tribe refers to the whole community living with same principles and beliefs. while that clan refers to the generation from the great, great, great, grandparents to great, great, great, great grand children.

its like saying, you are from the same blood line, the whoever clan.

and another one is, you are from the tribe who believes that nature is their god.

somethhing like that.

Answer 2

Tribe=A unit of social organization consisting of a number of families, clans, or other groups who share a common ancestry and culture.

A tribe can consist of clans.Members of a tribe are not required to be related,means different clans can have different hereditary chieftain anscestor.

It is sometimes use to descibe a group of people sharing same occupation, interest, or habit, in informal way.(Ex;a tribe of graduate students)

Clan=consisting of a number of families claiming a common ancestor and following the same hereditary chieftain. Clan can refer to number of families having same surname.Clan is bascially a division of a tribe tracing descent from a common ancestor with common gene factor.

Tribe can be as big as the world population is.Remember, all human are children of adam and eve.or Tribe can also be as big as your country population.

Whatsoever size is of the tribe,clan size is always smaller than tribe.

Answer 3

A tribe means a group of people of the same race, language and customs, especially in a developing country. The members of any tribe are not necessarily related to each other.

A clan is a group which consists of families that are related to each other.

*

Answer 4

Tribe: consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states, though some modern theorists hold that contemporary tribes can only be understood in terms of their relationship to states.

clan: is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by perceived descent from a common ancestor.

* as for the second question, I can predict that it can consist of 5 or more people

Answer 5

Tribe:

a society or division of a society whose members have ancestry, customs, beliefs, and leadership in common

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/d...

A socially, ethnically, and politically cohesive group of people.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tribe?rdfr...

Clan:

a group of families related through a common ancestor or marriage

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/clan....

A group of people all descended from a common ancestor, in fact or belief.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clan

Answer 6

I think both are synonyms meaning Group of people related by blood or marraige.