ilk

ilk

is a word that arouses passions when it is used to mean ‘kind or sort’:

• Fifteen years a faithful husband, that was his ilk —Saul Bellow, 1987.

Ilk arrived at this meaning by a strange route: originally it meant ‘same’ (Old English ilca), but was pushed aside in this role by the arrival in the Middle English period of same (from Old Norse). In Scotland from the 15c, the phrase of that ilk emerged with the meaning ‘of the same place, territorial designation, or name’, to denote the names of landed families, e.g. Guthrie of that Ilk = Guthrie of (a place also called) Guthrie. The Scottish use was rapidly misunderstood south of the border and by the 18c the word ilk had acquired the meaning ‘family, class’ and hence ‘kind or sort’, and we are back at the point where we started. Although there is much evidence of the spread of the popular use, it should be borne in mind that it can sound absurd to anyone (not necessarily Scottish) who is familiar with the word's historical usage. Examples:

• Her husband's employment was not of the ilk of the typical man on the job on the coast —A. Kennedy, NewZE 1986

• I'm being flippant. Irresponsible in the well-known propensity of my ilk —Kingsley Amis, 1988

• Circumscription of any ilk is dangerous —American Atheist Mag., 2004.