sister

English

Etymology

Middle English suster, sister, partly from Old Norse systir and partly from Old English sweoster, both from Proto-Germanic *swestēr, from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈsɪstə/, SAMPA: /"sIst@/
• (US) enPR: sĭs'tər, IPA: /ˈsɪstɚ/, SAMPA: /"sIst@`/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -ɪstə(r)

Noun

sister (plural sisters or (archaic) sistren)

1. a daughter of the same parents as another person; a female sibling.

   My sister is always driving me crazy.

2. a female member of a religious community; a nun.

   Michelle left behind her bank job and became a sister at the local convent.

3. (UK) a senior or supervisory nurse, often in a hospital.
4. any woman or girl with whom a bond is felt through common membership of a race, profession, religion or organization, such as feminism.

   Connie was very close to her friend Judy and considered her to be her sister.

   • 1985, Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin, Who’s Zoomin' Who?:

     [song title] Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves

5. (slang) a black woman
6. (informal) a form of address to a woman
   • What’s up, sister?
7. a woman, in certain labour or socialist circles; also as a form of address.
   • Thank you, sister. I would like to thank the sister who just spoke.
8. (attributive) Of or relating to an entity that has a special or affectionate relationship with another

   sister publication

   sister city

   sister project

Synonyms

• (woman or girl with the same parents): (slang) sis
• (member of religious community): nun, sistren
• (supervisory nurse): charge nurse (the male equivalent)
• (informal: form of address to a woman): darling, dear, (US) lady, love, miss, (northern UK) pet

Antonyms

• (with regards to gender) brother

Hypernyms

• (daughter of common parents): sibling

Derived terms

Terms derived from sister

half-sister sister city sisterhood

sister-in-law sisterly sister ship

stepsister weak sister

Related terms

• sororal
• sistren and nun
• brethren or brother
• friar and frater or father

Translations

woman or girl having the same parents

Afrikaans: suster Akkadian: 𒊩𒌆 (aḫātu) Albanian: motër (sq) f. Amharic: እህት (ʼəhət), እኅት (am) (əet) Arabic: أخت (ar) (ʾuxt) f., شقيقة (ar) (šaqīqa) f. Egyptian Arabic: أخت (ʾoxt) f. Aramaic: Syriac: ܚܬܐ (ħāṯā’) f. Archi: дошдур (došdur) Armenian: քույր (hy) (k’uyr) Old Armenian: քոյր (kʿoyr) Aromanian: sorã Azeri: bacı (az) Belarusian: сястра (be) (sjastrá) f. Breton: c'hoar f. Bulgarian: сестра (bg) (sestra) f. Burmese: အစ်မ (my), ညီမ (my) Catalan: germana, f. Cherokee: ᎤᎸ (chr) (ulv) Chinese: Mandarin: 姐姐 (zh) (jiějie) (older), 妹妹 (zh) (mèimei) (younger), 姐妹 (zh) (jiěmèi) (female siblings), 嬃 (zh), 媭 (zh) (xū) (older, used in ancient Chu)*: Min Nan: (older sister) 大姊 (tōa-chí), (younger sister) 小妹 (sió-mōe), (sisters) 姊妹 (chí-mōe) Teochew: zê2mei2 pl. Chinook Jargon: ats, kahpo Coptic: ⲥⲱⲛⲉ (sōne) Cornish: hwoer (kw) Czech: sestra (cs) f. Danish: søster (da) c. Dutch: zus (nl) f., zuster (nl) f. Egyptian: snt Esperanto: fratino (eo) Estonian: õde, sõsar Ewe: nɔvinyɔnu (sister), daa (older sister), tsɛ (younger sister) Finnish: sisko (fi), sisar (fi) French: sœur (fr) f. Georgian: და (ka) (da) German: Schwester (de) f. Greek: αδελφή (el) (adelfí) f. Ancient: ἀδελφή (adelphē) Greenlandic: nuka, angaju, aleqa or naja Hebrew: אחות (he) (akhót) f. Hungarian: nővér (hu) (older), húg (hu) (younger) Ido: fratino (io) Indonesian: saudara perempuan f. (female sibling), kakak perempuan f. (older) / adik perempuan f. (younger) Interlingua: soror Irish: deirfiúr (ga) m. Italian: sorella (it) f. Japanese: 姉妹 (ja) (しまい, shimai) (female siblings); 姉 (ja) (あね, ane), お姉さん (ja) (おねえさん, onēsan) (older); 妹 (ja) (いもうと, imōto) (younger) Karachay-Balkar: эгеч (egec) Kashubian: sostra f. Kazakh: апа (kk) (apa) Korean: 자매 (ko) (jamae) Kurdish: Sorani: خوشک (ku) (xoshk) Kyrgyz: эже (ky) (eçe) (older); карындаш (ky) (karındaş) (younger) Latgalian: muosa

Latin: soror (la) f. Latvian: māsa f. Lithuanian: sesuo (lt) Lojban: mensi Low German: Süster (nds) f., Swester (nds) f. Lower Sorbian: sotša f. Luxembourgish: Schwëster (lb) f. Macedonian: сестра (mk) f. Malay: kakak (ms) Malayalam: സഹോദരി (ml) (sahodari), (Elder) ചേച്ചി (ml) (chechchi) Maltese: oħt (mt) f. Marathi: (bahin) f. Nahuatl: cihuācnīuhtli (nah), siuakniutli (nah) Navajo: adeezhí, hádí North Frisian: süster Norwegian: søster (no) c., storesøster (no) (older), lillesøster (no) (younger) Occitan: sòrre Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: сєстра (sestra) f. Glagolitic: ⰔⰅⰔⰕⰓⰀ (sestra) f. Old Prussian: sestrā f. Ossetian: Digor: хуæрæ (xyæræ) Iron: хо (xo) Pashto: خور (ps) (xor) f. Persian: خواهر (fa) (xâhar) Phoenician: 𐤀𐤇𐤕 (ʔḥt) Polabian: sestră f. Polish: siostra (pl) f. Portuguese: irmã (pt) f. Romani: pheny f. Romanian: soră (ro) f. Russian: сестра (ru) (sestrá) f. Scottish Gaelic: piuthar f. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: сестра (sh) f. Roman: sestra (sh) f. Sinhalese: (elder) අක්‍කා (si) (akkā), (younger) නංගි (si) (nan̆gi) Slovak: sestra (sk) f. Slovene: sestra (sl) f. Spanish: hermana (es) f. Swahili: dada (sw) Swedish: syster (sv) c. Tamil: அக்கா (ta) (akkā) (older), தங்கை (ta) (taṅgai) (younger), சகோதரி (ta) (sagOdari) Taos: p’àyu’úna (younger), tùtúna (older) Telugu: సోదరి (sOdari); అక్క (akka), అక్కయ్య (akkayya) (older); చెల్లి (celli), చెల్లెలు (cellelu) (younger) Thai: (elder) พี่สาว (th) (pêe săao), (younger) น้องสาว (th) (nóng săao) Turkish: abla (older), kız kardeş, bacı Ugaritic: 𐎀𐎃𐎚 (ảḫt) Ukrainian: сестра (uk) (sestrá) f. Upper Sorbian: sotra f. Urdu: بہن (ur) f. Vietnamese: chị (vi) or chị gái (vi) (older), em gái (vi) (younger), em (vi) (younger sibling - brother or sister) Volapük: sör (vo), (♂♀) gem (vo), (♀) jigem (vo), jiblod (vo) Welsh: chwaer (cy) f. West Frisian: sus (fy) Yiddish: שוועסטער (yi) (shvester) f.

a nun; a female member of a religious community

Afrikaans: suster Armenian: քույր (k‘uyr) Bosnian: sestra (bs) f. Breton: c'hoar f., seurez f. Bulgarian: сестра (bg) f. Catalan: germana (ca) f. Croatian: sestra (hr) f. Danish: nonne (da) c., søster (da) Dutch: zus (nl) f., zuster (nl) f., kloosterzuster (nl), non (nl) Esperanto: fratino (eo), fratulino (eo) Estonian: õde (et) Finnish: sisar (fi) French: sœur (fr) f., nonne (fr) f., religieuse (fr) f. German: Schwester (de) f. Greek: αδελφή (el) (adelfí) f. Hebrew: אָחוֹת (akhót) f. Hungarian: apáca (hu), nővér (hu) Indonesian: suster (id) f. Irish: siúr f. Italian: sorella (it) f., suora (it) f.

Japanese: 修道女 (しゅうどうじょ, shūdōjo); シスター (shisutā) Korean: 수녀 (sunyeo) Latvian: māsa f. Maltese: soru (mt) f. Polish: siostra (pl) f. Portuguese: irmã (pt) f., soror (pt) f. Romanian: călugăriță (ro) f. Russian: сестра (ru) (sestrá) f. Serbian: Cyrillic: сестра f. Roman: sestra f. Slovak: sestra (sk) f. Slovene: sestra (sl) f. Spanish: hermana (es) f., sor (es) f. Swedish: syster (sv) c. Telugu: సహోదరి (sahOdari) Turkish: rahibe (tr) Volapük: (male or female) kleudan (vo), (female) jikleudan (vo), (male or female) rodan (vo), (female) jirodan (vo)

senior nurse

Afrikaans: suster Armenian: բուժքույր (bužk‘uyr) Breton: klañvdiourez f. Bulgarian: медицинска сестра (bg) (meditsinska sestra) f. Catalan: infermera f. Czech: sestra (cs) f. Danish: afdelingssygeplejerske (da) c. Dutch: zuster (nl) f., verpleegster (nl) Esperanto: flegistino (eo) French: infirmière (fr) f. German: Schwester (de) f., Krankenschwester (de) f. Greek: αδελφή (el) (adelfí) f.

Hebrew: אָחוֹת (akhót) f. Hungarian: ápolónő (hu), nővér (hu) Interlingua: infirmera Latvian: māsa f., māsiņa f., medmāsa (lv) Polish: siostra (pl) f. Portuguese: enfermeira (pt) f. Russian: медсестра (ru) (medsestrá) f., сестра (ru) (sestrá) f. Slovak: sestra f., sestrička (lit. little sister) Slovene: (medicinska) sestra f. Swedish: sjuksköterska (sv) c., sjuksyster (sv) c., syster (sv) c. Turkish: hemşire (tr)

any woman or girl with whom a bond is felt

Afrikaans: suster Armenian: քույր (k‘uyr) Catalan: germana (ca) f. Danish: søster (da) c. Greek: αδελφή (el) (adelfí) f.

Hebrew: אָחוֹת (akhót) f. Kurdish: خوشک Lojban: mensi Russian: сестра (ru) (sestrá) f. Swedish: medsyster (sv)

black woman

Bulgarian: чернокожа жена (černokoža žena) f. Catalan: germana f.

Hebrew: אָחוֹת (akhót) f.

form of address to a woman

Kurdish: Sorani: خوشکه (ku) (xoshke)

attributively: of an entity that has a special relationship with another

Greek: αδελφή (el) (adelfí) f. Polish: (adjective) siostrzany m.

Spanish: hermano (es) m., hermana (es) f.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Bulgarian: сроден (sroden) m., жена (žena) f. Guaraní: eindy (t-) (of a male); ykéra, (t-) yke (t-) (elder sister of a female); kypy'y (younger sister of a female)

Korean: 자매 (jamae), 누나 (nuna), 언니 (eonni) Old English: sweoster n. Romanian: soră f. Tupinambá: endyra (t-) (of a male); ykera (t-, t-) (older sister of a female); pyky'yra (younger sister of a female) Turkish: bacı, kız kardeş

Verb

sister (third-person singular simple present sisters, present participle sistering, simple past and past participle sistered)

1. (transitive, construction) To strengthen (a supporting beam) by fastening a second beam alongside it.

   I’m trying to correct my sagging floor by sistering the joists.

External links

• Sister (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Sister (disambiguation)
• sister in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: usual · entirely · system · #726: sister · occasion · enemy · perfect

Anagrams

• resist, resits, risest

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Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ˈsɪstər]

Noun

sister (plural sisters)

1. sister

Derived terms

• guid-sister