niece

See also: Niece, niecę, nièce, and -niece

English

Etymology

From Middle English nece (“niece, granddaughter”), from Old French nece (“niece, granddaughter”) (Modern French nièce (“niece”)) from Late Latin neptia, representing Latin neptis (“granddaughter”), from Proto-Indo-European *néptih₂ (“granddaughter, niece”). Doublet of nift.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nēs, IPA^(key): /niːs/
• (General American) enPR: nēs, IPA^(key): /nis/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːs
• Homophones: Nice

Noun

niece (plural nieces)

2. A daughter of one’s sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either the daughter of one's brother ("fraternal niece"), or of one's sister ("sororal niece").

   Hyponyms: fraternal niece, sororal niece

   Coordinate terms: nephew, neve

   My niece just celebrated her 15th birthday.

3. A daughter of one’s cousin or cousin-in-law

Synonyms

• nift (obsolete)

Antonyms

• (with regard to gender) nephew
• (with regard to ancestry) aunt, uncle

Hypernyms

• nephling
• nibling

Derived terms

• grandniece
• great-niece
• half niece
• niece fucker
• niece-in-law
• nieceless
• niecely
• nieceship
• niefling
• step-niece
• stepniece

Translations

fraternal or sororal niece — see also fraternal niece,‎ sororal niece

• Afrikaans: niggie (af)
• Albanian: mbesë (sq) f
• Altai:

  Southern Altai: јеен (ǰeen)

• Arabic: (fraternal) بِنْتُ أَخٍ f (bintu ʔaḵin), (sororal) بِنْتُ أُخْتٍ f (bintu ʔuḵtin)

  Egyptian Arabic: بنت أخ f (bent aḵḵ), بنت أخت f (bent oḵt)

• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܲܪ݇ܬ ܐܲܚܵܐ f (bat aḵā) (fraternal), ܒܲܪ݇ܬ ܚܵܬܵܐ f (bat ḵātā) (sororal)

• Armenian: եղբոր դուստր (eġbor dustr) (fraternal), եղբոր աղջիկ (eġbor aġǰik) (fraternal), քրոջ դուստր (kʻroǰ dustr) (sororal), քրոջ աղջիկ (kʻroǰ aġǰik) (sororal)
• Aromanian: nipoatã f
• Asturian: sobrina (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: qardaşqızı (fraternal), bacıqızı (sororal)
• Basque: iloba (eu)
• Belarusian: пляме́нніца f (pljamjénnica), пляме́ньніца f (pljamjénʹnica)
• Bengali: ভাইঝি (bn) (bhaijhi)
• Breton: nizez (br) f
• Bulgarian: пле́менница (bg) f (plémennica)
• Catalan: neboda (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (fraternal) 侄女 (zh) (zhínǚ), 姪女 / 侄女 (zh) (zhínǚ), (sororal) 甥女 (zh) (shēngnǚ), 外甥女 (zh) (wàishēngnǚ)

• Czech: neteř (cs) f
• Dalmatian: niapta f
• Danish: niece (da) c
• Dutch: nicht (nl) f, nichtje (nl) n
• Esperanto: nevino (eo)
• Estonian: (fraternal) vennatütar, (sororal) õetütar (et)
• Faroese: (fraternal) bróðurdóttir, (sororal) systurdóttir
• Finnish: veljentytär (fi) (fraternal), sisarentytär (fi) (sororal)
• French: nièce (fr) f

  Old French: niece f

• Frisian:

  North Frisian: nicht f (Halligen)

  Saterland Frisian: Nichte f

  West Frisian: nicht c

• Friulian: gnece f
• Galician: sobriña f
• Georgian: დისწული (disc̣uli), ძმისწული (ʒmisc̣uli)
• German: Nichte (de) f
• Greek: ανεψιά (el) f (anepsiá), ανιψιά (el) f (anipsiá)

  Ancient Greek: ἀδελφιδῆ f (adelphidê)

• Greenlandic: soraluaq
• Hebrew: אחיינית / אַחְיָנִית f (akhyanít)
• Hindi: , भतीजी (hi) f (bhatījī) (fraternal), भांजी (hi) f (bhāñjī) (sororal)
• Hungarian: unokahúg (hu)
• Icelandic: bróðurdóttir (is) f (fraternal), systurdóttir (is) f (sororal)
• Ido: nevino (io)
• Ilocano: kaanakan a babai
• Indonesian: keponakan (id), kemenakan (id), misan (id) (nephew or niece)
• Ingrian: plemmäänitsa
• Irish: neacht f
• Italian: nipote (it) f
• Japanese: 姪 (ja) (めい, mei)
• Kashmiri: (fraternal) باوزٕ (ks) (bāvzụ), (sororal) بؠنٛزٕ (ks) (byanzụ), (sororal) بیٔنٛزٕ (ks) (byạnzụ)
• Kazakh: қарындас (qaryndas) (fraternal), жиен (jien) (sororal)
• Korean: 조카딸 (ko) (jokattal), 조카 (ko) (joka) (nephew or niece)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: خوشکەزا (ckb) (xuşkeza) (sister's son or daughter)

• Kyrgyz: карындаш (ky) (karındaş) (fraternal), жээн (ky) (jeen) (sororal)
• Latin: (fraternal) filia fratris f, (sororal) filia sororis f, nepta, neptia, fratruelis (la) (fraternal niece or nephew), sobrina (la) (sororal niece), nepotia
• Lithuanian: dukterėčia (lt) f
• Low German: (fraternal) Broderdeern f, (fraternal) Broderdochter f, (fraternal) Broderkind n, (sororal) Süsterdeern f, (sororal) Swesterdeern f, (sororal) Süsterdochter f, (sororal) Swesterdochter f, (sororal) Süsterkind n, (sororal) Swesterkind n

  East Frisian Low German: niecht f

  Westmünsterlandic: Nechte f (Erle)

• Lushootseed: staləł
• Macedonian: брата́ница f (bratánica) (fraternal), се́стрична f (séstrična) (sororal)
• Malay: anak saudara perempuan, anak saudara, penakan (ms), ponakan (regardless of gender, rare)
• Maltese: neputija f
• Māori: irāmutu, tamaiti whakaangi, tapairu
• Mauritian Creole: nyes
• Norman: nièche f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: niese (no) m or f

• Occitan: neboda (oc) f
• Old English: nift f
• Paicî: nôôrâ
• Pennsylvania German: Niess f
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: بَرادَرْزادِه (barâdarzâde) (fraternal, male or female), خواهَرْزادِه (xâharzâde) (sororal, male or female)

• Plautdietsch: Plemenitze f
• Polish: (fraternal) bratanica (pl) f, (sororal) siostrzenica (pl) f
• Portuguese: sobrinha (pt) f
• Quechua: mulla
• Romanian: nepoată (ro) f
• Romansh: nezza f, niaza f, neaza f
• Russian: племя́нница (ru) f (plemjánnica)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: (fraternal) vieljanieida, (sororal) oappánieida

• Scottish Gaelic: (fraternal) nighean-bràthar f, (sororal) nighean-peathar (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Latin: (fraternal) sinovica (sh), bratanica (sh), bratična (sh) sinovka, (sororal) sestričina (sh), nećakinja f, nećaka (Serbia), nestera (Croatia, archaic)

• Seri: (of a male) aac
• Seychellois Creole: nyes
• Slovak: neter (sk) f
• Slovene: nečakinja (sl) f
• Spanish: sobrina (es) f
• Swahili: mpwa (sw)
• Swedish: niece (sv) c, (fraternal) brorsdotter (sv) c, (sororal) systerdotter (sv) c
• Tagalog: pamangking babae, pamangkin (tl) f
• Tajik: бародарзода (barodarzoda) (fraternal, male or female), хоҳарзода (xoharzoda) (sororal, male or female), ҷиян (jiyan)
• Taos: kìłuʼúna
• Telugu: మేనకోడలు (te) (mēnakōḍalu)
• Thai: หลานสาว (lǎan-sǎao)
• Turkish: kız yeğen (tr)
• Turkmen: ýegen
• Ukrainian: племі́нниця f (plemínnycja), небо́га (uk) f (nebóha)
• Urdu: بَھتِیجی f (bhatījī), بھان٘جی f (bhāñjī) (sororal)
• Uyghur: جىيەن (jiyen)
• Uzbek: jiyan (uz)
• Vietnamese: cháu gái
• Volapük: (fraternal or sororal, ♂♀) nef (vo), (fraternal or sororal) jinef (vo), (fraternal, ♂♀) blodanef, (fraternal) blodajinef, (fraternal) blodadaut (vo), (sororal, ♂♀) söranef, (sororal) sörajinef, (sororal) söradaut (vo), (fraternal) blodajison, (sororal) sörajison, (fraternal, ♂♀) blodacil (vo), (fraternal) blodajicil, (sororal, ♂♀) söracil (vo), (sororal) sörajicil
• Welsh: nith (cy) f, nithoedd (cy) f pl
• Woiwurrung: babi
• Yámana: yamana-kipa
• Yiddish: פּלימעניצע f (plimenitse)
• Zazaki: hêgane f

See also

• dad / mom
• brother / sister
• grandfather / grandmother
• cousin
• step-

Anagrams

• Eceni, Neice

Danish

Etymology

From French nièce (“niece”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niɛːsə/, [niˈɛːsə]

Noun

niece c (singular definite niecen, plural indefinite niecer)

1. niece

Inflection

Declension of niece

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	niece	niecen	niecer	niecerne
genitive	nieces	niecens	niecers	niecernes

Synonyms

• (fraternal niece): brordatter
• (sororal niece): søsterdatter

Antonyms

• brorsøn ("fraternal nephew")
• nevø ("nephew")
• søstersøn("sororal nephew")

Further reading

• niece on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

Old French

Alternative forms

• nece, neyche

Etymology

From Late Latin neptia, from Latin neptis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnjɛtsə/

Noun

niece oblique singular, f (oblique plural nieces, nominative singular niece, nominative plural nieces)

1. niece

Descendants

• French: nièce
• Norman: nièche
• → Middle English: nece, nese, neece, neis, neysse
  • English: niece
  • Scots: niece

See also

• neveu
• oncle

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from French nièce, ultimately from Late Latin neptia, from Latin neptis (“granddaughter”), whence also English niece.

Noun

niece c

1. (higher register) niece

   Hypernym: syskonbarn

   Hyponyms: brorsdotter, systerdotter

   Coordinate term: nevö

Declension

Declension of niece

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	niece	nieces
	definite	niecen	niecens
plural	indefinite	niecer	niecers
	definite	niecerna	niecernas

References

• niece in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
• nevö in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)