Family relationship names
The words for every kind of relative, from grandparent to cousin-in-law, with the one-line definition you can read out at the table.
By blood
- Parent
- Your mother or father. 1 generation up.
- Grandparent
- Your parent's parent. Each "great-" adds a generation: great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent, then 3rd great-grandparent.
- Sibling
- Brother or sister: you share both parents.
- Half-sibling
- You share exactly one parent.
- Aunt / uncle
- Your parent's sibling. Gender-neutral: pibling.
- Great-aunt / great-uncle
- Your grandparent's sibling. Genealogists may say grand-aunt or grand-uncle.
- Niece / nephew
- Your sibling's child. Gender-neutral: nibling.
- Great-niece / great-nephew
- Your sibling's grandchild; also called grandniece or grandnephew.
- First cousin
- Child of your aunt or uncle. You share grandparents.
- Second cousin
- Child of your parent's first cousin. You share great-grandparents.
- Third cousin
- You share great-great-grandparents.
- Once removed
- One generation apart on a cousin line; twice removed is two generations apart.
- Half-cousin
- Cousins who share one grandparent rather than a couple.
- Double cousin
- Cousins related through both parents, e.g. two sisters married two brothers.
By marriage & informal
- Spouse
- Husband, wife or partner by marriage.
- Parent-in-law
- Your spouse's mother or father.
- Sibling-in-law
- Your spouse's sibling, or your sibling's spouse. Also your spouse's sibling's spouse in everyday use.
- Child-in-law
- Your child's spouse: son-in-law or daughter-in-law.
- Co-parents-in-law
- The parents of your child's spouse. Yiddish has a single word, machatunim; Spanish has consuegros.
- Cousin-in-law
- Your spouse's cousin or your cousin's spouse.
- Step-parent
- Your parent's spouse who is not your biological parent.
- Step-sibling
- Your step-parent's child. No shared parents.
- Step-cousin
- Your step-parent's niece or nephew. No blood link.
- Nibling
- Gender-neutral word for a niece or nephew, coined by linguist Samuel Martin in 1951.
- Pibling
- Gender-neutral word for an aunt or uncle (parent's sibling).
- Kissing cousin
- Informal: a relative familiar enough to kiss hello, often a distant cousin.
- Courtesy aunt / uncle
- A close family friend, or a parent's cousin, called aunt or uncle out of affection.
Words English doesn't have
Many languages name relatives more precisely than English. Mandarin distinguishes older from younger siblings and maternal from paternal grandparents; Swedish says morbror (mother's brother) and farbror (father's brother) instead of one word for uncle. English leans on "cousin" for a huge range of people, which is exactly why terms like "second cousin once removed" exist, and why a relationship calculator helps.
Questions people ask
What do you call your sibling's children without saying niece or nephew?
Nibling is the gender-neutral term. The matching word for an aunt or uncle is pibling.
What do you call your child's in-laws?
English has no single word; people say co-parents-in-law or "my son's in-laws". Yiddish uses machatunim and Spanish consuegros.
Is a step-relative the same as a half-relative?
No. Half-relatives share one parent or ancestor by blood. Step-relatives are connected only through a marriage.