If one thing is akin to another, it is very like it — not the same, but in the same family of feelings or ideas. The noise was akin to a growl. You almost always say akin to, not akin plus a noun with nothing in between. The word is a step more formal than like or similar; you meet it in writing and in careful speech. Though actually, it started as family talk: it comes from of kin, meaning related by blood. You can still use that older sense (the two families are akin), but most people now mean similar. It never means the two things are exactly equal, and it is a bit odd for comparing two physical objects in a shop; it likes feelings, jobs, styles, and situations.