sibling

English

Etymology

1903, modern revival of Old English sibling (“relative, a relation, kinsman”), equivalent to sib +‎ -ling. Compare Middle English sib, sibbe (“relative, kinsman”). The term apparently meant merely kin or relative until the 20th century when its necessity for the study of genetics led to its specialized use. For example, the OED has a 1903 citation in which "sibling" must be defined for those who don't know the intended meaning.

"1903 K. PEARSON in Biometrika II. 369 These [calculations] will enable us..to predict the probable character in any individual from a knowledge of one or more parents or brethren (‘siblings’, = brothers or sisters)." ("Sibling," OED.)

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĭbʹ-lĭng, IPA: /ˈsɪblɪŋ/, X-SAMPA: /"sIblIN/
• Rhymes: -ɪblɪŋ, -ɪŋ
• Hyphenation: sib‧ling

Noun

Wikipedia sibling (plural siblings)

1. A person who shares same parents. One's brother or sister.

Derived terms

• siblinghood

Translations

person who shares same parents

• Balinese: adi (younger)
• Catalan: germà m, germana f
• Czech: sourozenec (cs) m
• Danish: bror (da) c, søster (da) c, søskende (da) c pl
• Dutch: broer/broeder m, zus/zuster f
• Esperanto: gefrato (eo), gefratoj (eo) pl
• Ewe: nɔvi, tsɛ (younger sibling)
• Faroese: systkin (fo) n pl
• Fijian: taci (fj) (younger)
• Finnish: sisarus (fi)
• French: frère (fr) m, sœur ffratrie (fr) f
• German: Bruder (de), Schwester (de), Geschwister (de) pl
• Hindi: सहोदर (hi) (sahodar) m
• Hungarian: testvér (hu)
• Icelandic: systkin (is) n pl
• Indonesian: kakak (id) (older), adik (id) (younger)
• Iranun: ari (younger), dadi' (younger)
• Italian: fratello (it) m, sorella (it) f, parente (it), congiunto (it) m, consanguineo (it)
• Japanese: 同胞 (ja) (どうほう, dōhō), 兄弟姉妹 (ja) (きょうだいしまい, kyōdai-shimai)

• Javanese: ari (jv) (younger)
• Latvian: brālis m, māsa f
• Lojban: tunba
• Malay:

  Rumi: abang (ms) (older, male), kakak (ms) (older), adik (ms) (younger)

  Jawi: ابڠ (ms) (older, male), کاکق (ms) (older), اديق (ms) (younger)

• Norwegian: søsken (no) n
• Polish: rodzeństwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: irmão (pt), irmã (pt)
• Russian: брат (ru) m (brat), сестра (ru) f (sestra)
• Slovene: sorojenec (sl) m
• Spanish: hermano (es) m, hermana (es) f
• Swedish: syskon (sv) n
• Telugu: తోబుట్టువు (te) (tObuTTuvu)
• Thai: พี่ (pee, older), น้อง (norng, younger), both often used loosely for non-relatives
• Turkish: kardeş (tr)
• Volapük: (male or female) gem (vo), (male) higem (vo), (female) jigem (vo)
• West Coast Bajau: adi' (younger)

See also

• nibling