uncle

English

Etymology

Middle English uncle, from Anglo-Norman uncle, from Old French oncle, from Latin avunculus (“mother’s brother”; literally, “little grandfather”), diminutive of avus (“grandfather”), from Proto-Indo-European *awo- (“grandfather, adult male relative other than one's father”). Displaced native Middle English eam, eme (“maternal uncle”) (from Old English ēam "maternal uncle", compare Old English fædera "paternal uncle") from the same Proto-Indo-European root. More at eme.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ŭngʹkəl, IPA: /ˈʌŋ.kəl/, SAMPA: /"VN.k@l/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋkəl

Noun

uncle (plural uncles)

1. A brother or brother-in-law of someone’s parent.
2. (euphemistic) A companion to your (usually unmarried) mother.
3. (figuratively) A source of advice, encouragement, or help.
4. (UK, informal) A pawnbroker.
5. (Southern US and parts of UK, colloquial) A close male friend of the parents of a family.
6. (Southern US, slang, archaic) an older male African-American person
7. (India, slang) An affectionate name for an older man.

Synonyms

• (dialectal, Scottish): eam, eme

Antonyms

• (with regard to gender): aunt
• (with regard to ancestry): niece, nephew
• (African-American): boy
• (India): aunty

Hyponyms

• (brother of someone’s father): paternal uncle
• (brother of someone’s mother): maternal uncle

Derived terms

• agony uncle
• Bob’s your uncle
• cry uncle
• Dutch uncle
• grand-uncle
• great-uncle, great uncle
• holler uncle
• I'll be a monkey's uncle
• nuncle
• say uncle
• Uncle Sam
• Uncle Scrooge
• Uncle Tom

Related terms

• avuncular

Translations

• See related paternal uncle and maternal uncle for more translations.

brother (or brother-in-law) of someone’s parent

Albanian: xhaxha, dajë (sq) Amharic: ኣጎት (ʼagot) Arabic: (paternal) عم (ar) (3amm) m., خال (ar) (khaal) m. Armenian: հորեղբայր (hy) (horeġbayr) (paternal), քեռի (hy) (k'eṙi) (maternal) Basque: osaba (eu) Belarusian: дзядзька (be) (dzjádz'ka) m. Bosnian: (paternal) stric (bs) m., amidža (bs) m.; (brother-in-law of parent) tetak (bs) m., tečo (bs) m.; (maternal) ujak (bs) m., daidža (bs) m. Breton: eontr (br) m., (baby talk) tonton (br) m. Bulgarian: (paternal) чичо (bg) m. (čičo), стрико (bg) m. (striko) (regional, non-standard); (maternal) вуйчо (bg) m. (vujčo), калеко (bg) m. (kaleko) (regional), свако (bg) m. (svako) (last two may also apply to the husband of the paternal aunt) Catalan: oncle (ca) m., tio (ca) m. Chinese: Mandarin: (father’s elder brother) 伯父 (bófù), 伯伯 (bóbo); (father’s younger brother) 叔父 (shúfù), 叔叔 (shúshu); (father's brother-in-law) 姑父 (gūfù), 姑丈 (gūzhàng); (maternal) 舅父 (jiùfù), 舅舅 (jiùjiu); (mother's brother-in-law)姨父 (yífù), 姨丈 (yízhàng) Teochew: (father’s elder brother) a-beh4, beh4; (father’s younger brother) a-zêg4, zêg4; (father's brother-in-law) a1-dion6, dion6; (maternal) a1-gu6, gu6; (mother's brother-in-law) a1-dion6, dion6 (mother's brother-in-law) Chinook Jargon: tot Crimean Tatar: dayı Croatian: stric (hr) m. (paternal), ujak (hr) m. (maternal) Czech: strýc (cs) m. Danish: onkel (da) c., farbror (da) c. (paternal), morbror (da) c. (maternal) Dutch: oom (nl) m., (Flemish) nonkel (nl) m. Esperanto: onklo (eo) Ewe: tɔgã (father's elder brother), tɔɖe (father's younger brother), wɔfa (maternal) Finnish: setä (fi) (paternal), setäpuoli (fi) (father's brother-in-law), eno (fi) (maternal); enopuoli (fi) (mother's brother-in-law) French: oncle (fr) m., tonton m. (informal) German: Onkel (de) m., (archaic) Oheim (de) m. Gooniyandi: ngaboo Greek: θείος (el) (thíos) m. Greenlandic: akkaq (kl) Hebrew: דּוֹד (he) (dod) m. Hindi: (father's younger brother) चाचा (hi) (cācā) m., (father's elder brother) ताया (hi) (tāyā) m., (maternal) मामा (hi) (māmā), (generic) अंकल (hi) (aṅkal) m. Hungarian: nagybácsi (hu) Icelandic: föðurbróðir (is) m. (paternal), móðurbróðir (is) m. (maternal) Ido: onklulo (io) Indonesian: paman (id), om (id) Interlingua: oncle (ia) Irish: uncail (ga) m. Italian: zio (it) m. Japanese: (older) 伯父 (oji, hakufu) (humble); 伯父さん (ojisan); (polite); 伯父貴 (ojiki) (honorific) (younger) 叔父 (oji, shukufu) (humble); 叔父さん (ojisan) (polite); 叔父貴 (ojiki) (honorific) Kabyle: zizi m. Kalispel-Pend d'Oreille: smamáʔ Korean: 아저씨 (ko) (ajeossi)

Krisa: tani baʼ (father's elder brother), tani pung (father's younger brother), wini (maternal) Kurdish: Sorani: مام (ku) (mam) (paternal), خاڵ (ku) (xall) (maternal) Kurmanji: apo (ku) Latgalian: dzedzeits Latin: patruus (la) m. (paternal), avunculus (la) m. (maternal) Latvian: tēvocis (lv), (paternal) tēva brālis (lv), (maternal) mātes brālis (lv) Lithuanian: dėdė (lt) Lojban: famti (jbo) Malayalam: അമ്മാവന്‍ (ammaavan), മാമന്‍ (ml), (father's elder brother) വല്യച്ചന്‍ (ml) (valyachchan), (father's younger brother) ചെറിയച്ചന്‍ (ml) (cheriyachchan) Meriam: bab Old English: fædera m. (paternal), ēam (ang) m. (maternal) Old French: oncle m. Persian: عمو (fa) ('amu), دائی (fa) (dâ'i), خالو (fa) (xâlu) Pitjantjatjara: mama maḻatja (parent’s younger brother); mama puḻka (parent’s older brother) Polish: stryj (pl) m., stryjek (pl) m., wuj (pl) m., wujek (pl) m. Portuguese: tio (pt) Romanian: unchi (ro) Russian: дядя (ru) (djádja) m. Scottish Gaelic: bràthair-athar (gd) m. (parental), bràthair-màthar (gd) m. (maternal), uncail (gd) m. (with proper name) Serbian: Cyrillic: (paternal) стриц m., чичa m., амиџа m. (regional, non-standard); (parent's brother-in-law) тетак m., течa m., течо m.; (maternal) ујак m., даиџа m. (regional, non-standard); Roman: (paternal) stric m., čiča m., amidža m. (regional, non-standard); (parent's brother-in-law) tetak m., teča m., tečo m.; (maternal) ujak m., daidža m. (regional, non-standard) Seri: aaitz (younger) Slovene: stric m., dundo m. Spanish: tío (es) m. Swedish: onkel (sv) c.; farbror (sv) c. (paternal); (father's brother-in-law) far (sv)s svåger (sv) c., ingift (sv) farbror (sv) c.; morbror (sv) c. (maternal); (mother's brother-in-law) mor (sv)s svåger (sv) c., ingift (sv) morbror (sv) c. Tamil: (mama), பெரியப்ப (Peri'yappa) (parent’s elder brother), சிதப்ப (Chi'thappa) (parent’s younger brother) Thai: ลุง (th) (lung) Torres Strait Creole: ankel Turkish: amca (tr) (paternal), dayı (tr) (maternal), enişte (tr) (in-law) Ukrainian: дядько (uk) (djád'ko) m. Urdu: (father's younger brother) چچا (ur) (cācā) m. Vietnamese: bác (vi) (North, elder), chú (vi) (North, younger), cậu (vi) (South, both elder and younger) Volapük: hiter (vo), ziom (vo) West Frisian: omke m.

source of advice, encouragement, or help

Armenian: քեռի (k‘eŕi) Breton: eontr da-heul (br) m. Czech: strýček (cs) m. Dutch: oompje (nl) m., suikeroom (nl) m.

Finnish: kummisetä (fi) Portuguese: tio (pt) m. Russian: дядя (ru) (djádja) m.

UK informal: pawnbroker

See also pawnbroker Albanian: fajdexhi Danish: onkel (da) c.

Dutch: pandjesbaas (nl) m. Russian: ростовщик (ru) (rostovščík) m.

close male friend of the parents

Albanian: xhaxha, bacë Bosnian: čiko m. Catalan: tio (ca) m. Czech: strýček (cs) m. Finnish: setä (fi)

Portuguese: tio (pt) m. Serbian: Cyrillic: чико m., чика m. Roman: čiko m., čika m.

form of address to a man by young people or children in some countries

Belarusian: дзядзька (be) (dzjádz'ka) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 叔叔 (zh) (shūshu) Japanese: おじさん (ja) (oji-san)

Korean: 아저씨 (ko) (ajeossi) Russian: дядя (ru) (djádja) m. Ukrainian: дядько (uk) (djád'ko) m.

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

Breton: eontr m. (1,2), eontr da-heul (3,4), tonton (br) m. (child’s language) Bulgarian: чичо (čičo) m. (1), вуйчо (vujčo) m. (2) Georgian: ბიძა (bidza) Guaraní: tuty (2) Ido: onklo (io)

Indonesian: oom (id) Korean: 아저씨 (ajeossi), 삼촌 (samchon) Romanian: unchi m. Slovak: strýc, strýko (1), ujo, učok (2) m., svák (3,4) m. Swahili: baba mkubwa, mdogo (1), mjomba (2) Telugu: (mAma) మామ (te), (redanAna) పెదనాన (te), (bAbAyi) బాబాయి (te) Tupinambá: uba (t-, t-) (1), tutyra (2)

Interjection

uncle

1. A cry used to indicate surrender.

References

• “uncle” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001 [1]
• "uncle" in Merriam-Webster

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Anglo-Norman

Noun

uncle m. (oblique plural uncles, nominative singular uncles, nominative plural uncle)

1. uncle
   • circa 1170, Wace, Le Roman de Rou:

     D'ambes parz out filz e peres,
     uncles, nevos, cosins e freres

     On both sides there were sons and fathers,
     Uncles, nephews, cousins and brothers

   • circa 1250, Marie de France, Chevrefeuille

     Tristram en Wales se rala, tant que sis uncles le manda

     Tristan returned to Wales, while he waited for his uncle to call on him