sibling

English

Etymology

1903, modern revival of Old English sibling (“relative, a relation, kinsman”), equivalent to sib +‎ -ling. Compare Middle English siblynges pl, sib, sibbe (“relative; kinsman”), German Sippe. The term apparently meant merely kin or relative until the 20th century when it was applied in a way that aided the study of genetics, which 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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĭbʹ-lĭng, IPA^(key): /ˈsɪblɪŋ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪblɪŋ
• Hyphenation: sib‧ling

Noun

sibling (plural siblings)

1. A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with.

   None of my siblings are married yet.

2. (computing theory) A node in a data structure that shares its parent with another node.
3. (taxonomy) The most closely related species, or one of several most closely related species when none can be determined to be more closely related.
   • 1990 April 1, P. Hutter et al., “A genetic basis for the inviability of hybrids between sibling species of Drosophila”, in Genetics‎^[1], volume 124, number 4, pages 909–920:

     D. simulans, D. mauritiana and D. sechellia (which we will call “the siblings” when we do not need to distinguish among them) have homosequential polytene chromosome banding patterns differing from those of D. melanogaster by one long inversion on chromosome arm 3R and a few much smaller inversions.

   • 2015 November 26, Lucie Vaníčková et al., “Current knowledge of the species complex Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera, Tephritidae) in Brazil”, in ZooKeys, volume 540, →DOI, pages 211–237:

     Bush suggested that this difference might represent a case of chromosomal polymorphism or, more likely, sibling species.

Derived terms

• nibling
• pibling
• siblicide
• siblinged
• siblinghood
• siblingless
• siblinglike
• siblingly
• siblingship

 

Compound words and expressions

• 3/4 sibling
• adoptive sibling
• blood sibling
• foster sibling
• full-sibling
• god-sibling
• half-sibling, halfsibling
• little sibling
• milk sibling
• saviour sibling
• sibling fucker
• sibling-in-law
• sibling rivalry
• stepsibling
• three-quarter sibling

 

Translations

person who shares same parents

• Arabic: شَقِيق (ar) m (šaqīq), شَقِيقَة f (šaqīqa)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܲܚ̈ܘܵܬ݂ܹܐ m pl (aḥwāṯē) (in the plural)
• Azerbaijani: bacı-qardaş
• Balinese: adi (younger)
• Banjarese: dangsanak (bjn)
• Bengali: সহোদর (bn) (śohōdor)
• Bikol Central: tugang (bcl)
• Burmese: မောင်နှမ (my) (maunghna.ma.)
• Catalan: germà (ca) m, germana (ca) f
• Cherokee: (opposite sex of speaker) ᎤᏙ (udo)
• Chickasaw: ittibaapishi, tibaapishi
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 兄弟姊妹 (zh-min-nan) (hiaⁿ-tī-chí-mōe, hiaⁿ-tī-chí-moāi)

  Mandarin: 兄弟姐妹 (zh) (xiōngdì jiěmèi), 兄弟 (zh) (xiōngdì) (brother(s)), 姐妹 (zh) (jiěmèi) (sister(s)), 同胞 (zh) (tóngbāo)

• Czech: sourozenec (cs) m
• Danish: bror (da) c, søster (da) c, søskende (da) c pl
• Dutch: (uncommon) brus (nl) m or f, (chiefly academic) sibling (nl) m
• Esperanto: gefrato, gefratoj (eo) pl
• Estonian: õve (rare)
• Ewe: nɔvi, tsɛ (younger sibling)
• Faroese: systkin (fo) n pl
• Fijian: taci (younger)
• Finnish: sisarus (fi)
• French: frère et sœur m or pl, adelphe (fr) m or f, fratrie (fr) f, germain (fr) m, sibling (fr) m, frères et sœurs m pl or f pl, frœur (fr)
• Galician: irmán (gl) m, irmá (gl) f
• Georgian: დედმამიშვილი (dedmamišvili), და-ძმა (da-ʒma)
• German: Geschwisterchen (de) n, Geschwisterkind (de) n, Bruder (de) (male sibling, brother), Schwester (de) (female sibling, sister), Geschwister (de) pl
• Greek: αδέλφι (el) (adélfi)
• Greenlandic: qatanngut
• Hebrew: אַחַאי m
• Higaonon: sulud
• Hindi: सहोदर (hi) m (sahodar)
• Hungarian: testvér (hu)
• Icelandic: systkin (is) n pl
• Ido: frato (io)
• Ilocano: kabsat, kabagis, kaka (older), ading (younger)
• Indonesian: kakak (id) (older), adik (id) (younger), saudara (id) (regardless of age)
• Iranun: ari (younger), dadi' (younger)
• Irish: siblín m (technical); (in the plural) deartháireacha agus/nó deirfiúracha
• Isnag: waxi
• Italian: fratello (it) m, sorella (it) f, parente (it), congiunto (it) m, consanguineo (it), germano (it) m
• Japanese: 兄弟 (ja) (きょうだい, kyōdai)兄弟姉妹 (ja) (きょうだいしまい, kyōdai shimai), 同胞 (ja) (どうほう, dōhō), 同胞 (ja) (harakara)
• Javanese: sadulur (jv) (regardless of age), sadhèrèk (regardless of age), adhi (jv) (younger), rayi (jv) (younger), ari (younger), kangmas (older)
• Kabuverdianu: armun, irmon
• Kapampangan: kapatad
• Karo Batak: agi
• Kazakh: бауыр (kk) (bauyr)
• Kongo: lêki (younger), yaya (elder)
• Korean: 형제(兄弟) (ko) (hyeongje), 형제자매 (hyeongjejamae)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: xwişkûbira (ku) pl, xwişk û bira pl

• Laboya: ali (younger), kaiya (older)
• Lao: ອ້າຽນ້ອຽ (’āi nǭi), ອ້າຍນ້ອງ (ʼāi nǭng)
• Latin: germanus (la), germana (la), frater (la) m, soror (la) f
• Latvian: brālis (lv) m, māsa (lv) f
• Lithuanian: brolija f
• Low German: Bölkenkind n
• Lutshootseed: (older than self) sqa, (younger than self) suq'ʷaʔ
• Malay: abang (ms) (older, male), kakak (ms) (older), adik (ms) (younger)

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

• Malayalam: സഹോദരർ c pl (sahōdaraṟ)
• Minangkabau: dunsanak (min)
• Navajo: bił hajííjééʼ pl (blood siblings sharing the mother), hakʼis (same sex as you), halah (opposite sex from you)
• Norwegian: søsken (no) n
• Paiwan: marekakakaka
• Pangasinan: agik
• Pennsylvania German: Gschwischder n
• Persian: هم‌نیا (ham-niâ), همشیره (fa) (hamšire)
• Pirahã: ’ahaigí–gíi
• Polish: rodzeństwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: irmão (pt), irmã (pt)
• Russian: брат (ru) m (brat) (brother), сестра́ (ru) f (sestrá) (sister), си́блинг (ru) m (síbling) (neologism, rare), сибс (ru) m (sibs)
• Slovak: súrodenec (sk) m
• Slovene: sorojenec m
• Spanish: hermano (es) m, hermana (es) f
• Swahili: ndugu (sw) class 9/10
• Swedish: syskon (sv) n
• Tagalog: kapatid (tl), kaka (tl) (older)
• Tatar: кардәш (tt) (qardäş)
• Telugu: తోబుట్టువు (te) (tōbuṭṭuvu)
• Thai: พี่ (th) (pîi) (older), น้อง (th) (nɔ́ɔng) (younger), both often used loosely for non-relatives, พี่น้อง (th) (pîi-nɔ́ɔng)
• Turkish: kardeş (tr)
• Ukrainian: суро́дженець m (suródženecʹ), родже́нство n (rodžénstvo)
• Urdu: سہودر m (sahodar)
• Uyghur: قېرىنداش (ug) (qërindash)
• Vietnamese: anh chị em (vi)
• Volapük: (♂♀) gem (vo), (♂) higem (vo), (♀) jigem (vo)
• Waray-Waray: bug-to
• Welsh: sibling (cy) m (technical); (in the plural) brodyr a/neu chwiorydd
• West Coast Bajau: adi' (younger)
• Yoruba: àbúrò (younger sibling), ẹ̀gbọ́n (older sibling)
• Zazaki: bra m, wa (diq) f

Further reading

• sibling on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Giblins

Dutch

Etymology

From English sibling. Equivalent to native Dutch sibbe (“kinship; family”) +‎ -ling (“-ling”).

Noun

sibling m (plural siblingen)

1. (chiefly academic) sibling

   Synonym: (uncommon) brus

Related terms

• sibbe
• sibbegenoot

Old English

Etymology

From sibb +‎ -ling.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsib.linɡ/, [ˈsib.liŋɡ]

Noun

sibling m

1. relative, kinsman
   • 10c., Ælfric's Preface to Genesis‎^[2]:

     tō folces ēacan, and man ne mihte þā æt fruman wīfian būton on his siblingum.

     And then at the beginning a man could not take a wife, except for among his relatives.

Declension

Declension of sibling (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	sibling	siblingas
accusative	sibling	siblingas
genitive	siblinges	siblinga
dative	siblinge	siblingum

Descendants

• → English: sibling (learned)

Further reading

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “sibling”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎^[3], 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.