1. (in taxonomy) A category used in the classification of organisms that consists of one or several similar or closely related genera. Similar families are grouped into an order. Family names end in -aceae or -ae in botany (e.g. Cactaceae) and -idae in zoology (e.g. Equidae). The names are usually derived from a type genus (Cactus and Equus in the examples above) that is characteristic of the whole family (see type specimen). In botany, families are sometimes called natural orders.
2. (in molecular biology) A group of proteins with shared similarities in their amino-acid sequence, and often similarities in function, due to evolutionary divergence from a putative common ancestral protein. For example, the various types and subtypes of adrenoceptors can be considered as a protein family. See also gene family.