{{Short description|Child of one's sibling or half-sibling}} {{Redirect|Nephew}} {{Redirect|Niece|a more distant relation|second niece|the stock car team|Niece Motorsports}} {{Redirect-distinguish|Nibling|Nibbling}} {{Redirect|Great nephew|the racehorse|Great Nephew}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}

{{Anthropology of kinship|terms}} {{Anthropology}}

In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a '''niece''' or '''nephew''' is a child of an individual's sibling or sibling-in-law. A niece is female and a nephew is male, and they would call their parents' siblings aunt or uncle. The gender-neutral term '''nibling''' has been used in place of the common terms, especially in specialist literature.<ref name="nibling">{{cite book|last=Conklin|first=Harold C.|editor=Ward Hunt Goodenough|title=Explorations in Cultural Anthropology: Essays in Honor of George Peter Murdock|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/explorationsincu00good|chapter-url-access=registration|year=1964|publisher=McGraw-Hill|page=[https://archive.org/details/explorationsincu00good/page/35 35]|chapter=Ethnogenealogical method}}</ref>

As aunt/uncle and niece/nephew are separated by one generation, they are an example of a second-degree relationship. Unless related by marriage, they are 25% or more related by blood if the aunt/uncle is a full sibling of one of the parents, or 12.5% if they are a half-sibling.

== Etymology and lexicology == The word nephew is derived from the French word {{lang|fr|neveu}} which is derived from the Latin {{lang|la|nepos}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nephew |title=nephew (n.) |work=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Douglas Harper |access-date=8 June 2016 }}</ref> The term ''nepotism'', meaning familial loyalty, is derived from this Latin term.<ref>{{cite book |title=Loss and Renewal: Australian Languages Since Colonisation |last1=Meakins |first1=Felicity |date=2016 |page=91 |author-link=Felicity Meakins }}</ref> ''Niece'' entered Middle English from the Old French word {{lang|fro|nece}}, which also derives from Latin {{lang|la|nepotem}}.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=niece, n. |encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary |date=June 2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/126872?redirectedFrom=niece |access-date=June 26, 2016 }}</ref>

The word ''nibling'', derived from ''sibling'', is a neologism suggested by Samuel Martin in 1951 as a cover term for "nephew or niece"; it is not common outside of specialist literature.<ref name="nibling" /> Sometimes in discussions involving analytic material or in abstract literature, terms such as ''male nibling'' and ''female nibling'' are preferred to describe nephews and nieces respectively.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Keen |first=Ian |title=Definitions of kin |journal=Journal of Anthropological Research |volume=41 |issue=1 |year=1985 |pages=62–90 |doi=10.1086/jar.41.1.3630271 }}</ref> Terms such as ''nibling'' are also sometimes viewed as a gender-neutral alternative to terms which may be viewed as perpetuating the overgenderization of the English language;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hill |first1=Jane H. |author2=Kenneth C. Hill |title=Culture Influencing Language: Plurals of Hopi Kin Terms in Comparative Uto-Aztecan Perspective |journal=Journal of Linguistic Anthropology |volume=7 |issue=2 |year=1997 |pages=166–180 |doi=10.1525/jlin.1997.7.2.166 }}</ref> it can also be used likewise to refer to non-binary relatives.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/jennifer-lopez-shares-video-about-transgender-nibling-brendon-n1237838 |title=Jennifer Lopez shares video about transgender 'nibling,' Brendon |first=Gwen |last=Aviles |work=NBC News |date=August 24, 2020 |access-date=May 25, 2024 }}</ref>

These French-derived terms displaced the Middle English {{lang|enm|nyfte}}, {{lang|enm|nift}}, {{lang|enm|nifte}}, from Old English {{Lang|ang|nift}}, from Proto-Germanic {{lang|gem-x-proto|*niftiz}} ('niece'); and the Middle English {{lang|enm|neve}}, {{lang|enm|neave}}, from Old English {{lang|ang|nefa}}, from Proto-Germanic {{lang|gem-x-proto|*nefô}} ('nephew').<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvhJCgAAQBAJ&q=nyfte,+nephew&pg=PT57 |title=A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages |first=Carl Darling |last=Buck |date=3 July 2008 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226228860 |via=Google Books }}</ref><ref>{{cite Q |Q131605459 |first=Don |last=Ringe |author-link=Donald Ringe |page=96 |mode=cs1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DcdbAAAAMAAJ&q=proto+germanic+nefo |title=German kinship terms, 750–1500: documentation and analysis |first=William Jervis |last=Jones |date=19 March 1990 |publisher=W. de Gruyter |isbn=9780899255736 |via=Google Books }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzU3RIV2BWIC&q=proto+germanic+nefo&pg=PA239 |title=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture |first1=J. P. |last1=Mallory |first2=Douglas Q. |last2=Adams |date=19 March 1997 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781884964985 |via=Google Books }}</ref>

== Culture == In some patriarchal cultures, a nephew was the recipient of his uncle's inheritance if the latter did not have a successor. A nephew might have more rights of inheritance than the uncle's daughter.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stahl|first1=Anne|title=Victims who Do Not Cooperate with Law Enforcement in Domestic Violence Incidents|date=2007|page=19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://calternatives.org/resource/pdf/Marginality,%20Modes%20of%20insecurity%20and%20Indigenous%20Women%20of%20Northern%20Bangladesh.pdf|title=Marginality, Modes of insecurity and Indigenous Women of Northern Bangladesh|last=Chakraborty|first=Eshani|website=calternatives.org|access-date=8 June 2016|archive-date=18 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818164525/http://calternatives.org/resource/pdf/Marginality,%20Modes%20of%20insecurity%20and%20Indigenous%20Women%20of%20Northern%20Bangladesh.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

However, in some matrilineal cultures, a mother's brother (the uncle) might be considered the "social father" of the children more than the biological father, who might not even be considered family.

In social environments that lacked a stable home or environments such as refugee situations, uncles and fathers would equally be assigned responsibility for their sons and nephews.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Politics of Culture in Humanitarian Aid to Women Refugees Who Have Experienced Sexual Violence|journal=Transcultural Psychiatry|volume=37|issue=3|pages=435–449|publisher=McGill University|doi=10.1177/136346150003700309|year=2000|last1=Atlani|first1=Laàtitia|last2=Rousseau|first2=C…Cile|s2cid=146534532}}</ref>

Among parents, some cultures have assigned equal status in their social status to daughters and nieces. This is, for instance, the case in Indian communities in Mauritius,<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=4403988&fileId=S0010417500004023|title=Comparative Studies in Society and History&nbsp;— The Religion and Culture of Indian Immigrants in Mauritius and the Effect of Social Change&nbsp;— Cambridge Journals Online|issue=2|pages=241–257|journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History|volume=8|access-date=2016-04-11|doi=10.1017/S0010417500004023|last1=Hazareesingh|first1=K.|date=January 1966|s2cid=144617688 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> and the Thai Nakhon Phanom Province, where the transfer of cultural knowledge such as weaving was distributed equally among daughters, nieces and nieces-in-law by the Tai So community,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.npu.ac.th/researchnpu/pdf/5/4.pdf|title=Knowledge Management on Local Wisdom of Tai-so Community Weaving Culture in Phone Sawan District, Nakhon Phanom Province|website=Npu.ac.th|access-date=2016-04-11}}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and some Garifuna people that would transmit languages to their nieces.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=3707526|title=Language transmission in a Garifuna community: Challenging current notions about language death|website=Dialnet.unirioja.es|access-date=2016-04-11}}</ref> In some proselytizing communities the term ''niece'' was informally extended to include non-related younger female community members as a form of endearment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oapen.org/download?type=document&docid=515932#page=25|title=Divine Domesticities : Christian Paradoxes in Asia and the Pacific|website=Oapen.org|access-date=2016-04-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720034523/http://www.oapen.org/download?type=document&docid=515932#page=25|archive-date=2018-07-20}}</ref> Among some tribes in Manus Province of Papua New Guinea, women's roles as sisters, daughters and nieces may have taken precedence over their marital status in social importance.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gustaffson|first1=Berit|title=Traditions and Modernities in Gender Roles: Transformations in Kinship and Marriage Among the M'Buke from Manus Province|date=1999|page=7}}</ref>

==Additional terms== * A '''grandnephew''' or '''grandniece''' is the grandson or granddaughter of one's sibling.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grandnephew|title=Definition of Grandnephew by Merriam-Webster|website=merriam-webster.com|publisher=Merriam-Webster|access-date=16 October 2020}}</ref> Also called '''great-nephew''' / '''great-niece'''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/great-nephew|title=Definition of Great-nephew by Merriam-Webster|website=merriam-webster.com|publisher=Merriam-Webster|access-date=16 October 2020}}</ref> * A '''half-niece''' or '''half-nephew''' is the child of one's half-sibling, related by 12.5%.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/half%20niece |title=Definition Of Half Niece by Merriam-Webster|website=merriam-webster.com |publisher=Merriam-webster |access-date=March 30, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/half%20nephew |title=Definition Of Half Nephew by Merriam-Webster|website=merriam-webster.com|publisher=Merriam-webster |access-date=March 30, 2022}}</ref> In some cultures and family traditions, it is common to refer to cousins with one or more removals to a newer generation using some form of the word niece or nephew. For more information see cousin.

Some languages, such as Polish, have different words for a brother's son and daughter, as well as for a sister's son and daughter. A brother's daughter is "bratanica", and a brother's son is "bratanek," while a sister's daughter is "siostrzenica", and a sister's son is "siostrzeniec".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Anna |date=2009-05-22 |title=Who's Who in the Family |url=https://blogs.transparent.com/polish/whos-who-in-the-family/ |access-date=2025-10-08 |website=Polish Language Blog {{!}} Language and Culture of the Polish-Speaking World}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == {{wiktionary|nephew}} {{wiktionary|niece}} {{Wiktionary|niece|nephew|nibling}} * {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Nephew|volume=19|page=384}} * {{cite web|url=http://www.genetic-genealogy.co.uk/Toc115570138.html#Uncle_Aunt__Nephew_Niece|work=Genetic and Quantitative Aspects of Genealogy|title=Types of Collateral Relationships - Uncle/Aunt Nephew/Niece|first=F. M.|last=Lancaster|date=October 2005|access-date=25 June 2016}} * [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nephew Dictionary.com, "nephew,"] in Dictionary.com Unabridged. Source location: Random House, Inc. Available: [http://dictionary.reference.com Dictionary.com Is The World's Favorite Online Dictionary]. Retrieved: January 1, 2011

{{family}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Family Category:Sibling