nibling

English

Etymology

Coined by linguist Samuel E. Martin in 1951 from nephew/niece by analogy with sibling.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈnɪblɪŋ/

Noun

nibling (plural niblings)

1. A nephew or niece, especially in the plural or as a gender-neutral term.
   • 1989 November, Gacs, Women Anthropologists: Selected Biographies, University of Illinois Press

     She was close to her family, particularly her younger “siblings and niblings.”

   • 1998 May, D.J. Kruger, Relative worth across disparate types of assistance [1]

     Kin selection was strongest for choices between sibling and friend, decreasing across sibling vs. nibling, nibling vs. friend, and nibling vs. cousin.

   • 1999 June, Jay Miller, Lushootseed Culture and the Shamanic Odyssey, University of Nebraska Press

     Most distinctive of the system, therefore, were the two terms for parental siblings and for niblings, which occurred only among the Salish and neighboring Southern Nootkans.

   • 2004 January 29, Rabbi Josh Yuter, Nibling News, Yutopia [2]
   • 2005 February, N. J. Enfield, "The Body as a Cognitive Artifact in Kinship Representations", Current Anthropology, Volume 46, Number 1

     Cousins are informally referred to by the same terms used for siblings, but officially one has an aunt/uncle-nibling relationship with one's cousins

   • 2005 June 1, Sean M Theriault, The Power Of The People, Ohio State University Press

     But, it is my niblings² who taught me how to love.

   • 2005 December 7, "castiron" Casteel, The Bog of Lost Scholars [3]

     Next up: Probably Baby Norgi for my nibling, though I also have socks and fingerless mitts that need starting.

Hyponyms

a nephew or niece

• nephew
• niece

Related terms

• sibling

Translations

a nephew or niece

• Esperanto: genevo
• Greenlandic: soraluaq (kl)
• Italian: nipote (it) m
• Northern Sami: (male's younger brother's child) eahkit, (male's elder brother's child) čeahcit, (male's sister's or female's brother's child) neahpi, (female's younger sister's child) goaskit, (female's elder sister's child) muoŧŧál
• Russian: (siblings' son) племянник (ru) (plemjannik) m, (siblings' daughter) племянница (ru) (plemjannica) f

• Spanish: sobrino, (no de sexo masculino, sino refiriéndose a cualquier sexo)
• Swedish: (siblings' children) syskonbarn n, (siblings' son) nevö c, (siblings' daughter) niece c, (brother's children) brorsbarn n, (brother's son) brorson c, (brother's daughter) brorsdotter c, (sister's children) systerbarn n, (sister's son) systerson c, (sister's daughter) systerdotter c

References

• http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/language/kinship.html