nephew

nephew

See also: Nephew

English

Etymology

From Middle English nevew, neveu (“nephew, grandson”), from Old French neveu, from Latin nepos, nepōtem, from Proto-Italic *nepōts (“nephew, grandson”), whence also French neveu, Italian nipote. Displaced or absorbed the inherited English neve (“nephew, grandson, male cousin”), from Middle English neve, from Old English nefa, from Proto-West Germanic *nefō, from Proto-Germanic *nefô (“nephew, grandson”), whence Dutch neef, German Neffe. All ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *népōts (“grandchild, sister's son”). Cognate with Serbo-Croatian nećak, Irish nia, Persian نوه‎ (nave). Spelt with -ph- by readaptation to Latin nepos since the 15th century, which later triggered the spelling pronunciation with /f/.

Pronunciation

• enPR: nĕfʹyo͞o, IPA^(key): /ˈnɛf.ju/
• (Received Pronunciation, dated) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛv.ju/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

nephew (plural nephews)

1. A son of one's sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either a son of one's brother (fraternal nephew) or a son of one's sister (sororal nephew).

   Synonym: (obsolete) neve

   Coordinate terms: niece, nift

   Hypernyms: nephling, nibling

   Hyponyms: fraternal nephew, sororal nephew

2. A son of one's cousin or cousin-in-law
3. (archaic) A son of one's child.

   Synonym: grandson

   • 1567, Arthur Golding (translator), The XV Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, entytuled Metamorphosis, Book 1,

     Hir father many a time and oft would say my daughter deere,

     Of Nephewes thou my debtour art, their Graundsires heart to chéere.

Hypernyms

• nephling
• nibling

Derived terms

• grandnephew
• great-nephew
• half nephew

Related terms

• nepotism
• neve
• niece
• nift

Translations

fraternal or sororal nephew — See also translations at fraternal nephew,‎ sororal nephew

Afrikaans: neef (af) Albanian: nip (sq) m Arabic: (fraternal) اِبْنُ أَخٍ‎ m (ibnu ʾaḵin), (sororal) اِبْنُ أُخْتٍ‎ (ibnu ʾuḵtin) Egyptian Arabic: ابن أخ‎ m (ebn ʾaḵḵ), ابن أخت‎ m (ebn ʾoḵt) Armenian: (fraternal) եղբորորդի (hy) (ełborordi), (fraternal) եղբոր տղա (ełbor tła), (sororal) քրոջ որդի (kʿroǰ ordi), (sororal) քրոջ տղա (kʿroǰ tła) Aromanian: nipot m Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܲܪ ܐܲܚܵܐ‎ m (bar aḵā) (fraternal), ܒܲܪ ܚܵܬܵܐ‎ m (bar ḵātā) (sororal) Asturian: sobrín (ast) m Basque: iloba (eu) Belarusian: пляме́ннік m (pljamjénnik) Bulgarian: пле́менник (bg) m (plémennik) Burmese: တူ (my) (tu) Catalan: nebot (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: (fraternal) 姪／侄 (zh) (zhí), 姪子／侄子 (zh) (zhízǐ), (sororal) 外甥 (zh) (wàishēng) Czech: synovec (cs) m Dalmatian: nepaut m Danish: nevø (da) c Dutch: neef (nl) m Esperanto: nevo (eo) Estonian: (fraternal) vennapoeg, (sororal) õepoeg Faroese: bróðursonur m (fraternal), systursonur m (sororal) Finnish: (fraternal) veljenpoika (fi), (sororal) sisarenpoika (fi) French: neveu (fr) m Friulian: nevôt m Galician: sobriño (gl) m Georgian: (sororal) დისწული (disc̣uli), (fraternal) ძმისწული (ʒmisc̣uli) German: Neffe (de) m Greek: ανιψιός (el) m (anipsiós) Ancient: ἀδελφιδοῦς m (adelphidoûs) Greenlandic: soraluaq Haitian Creole: neve Hebrew: אחיין‎ m (akhyán) Hindi: भतीजा (hi) m (bhatījā) Hungarian: unokaöcs (hu) Icelandic: (fraternal) bróðursonur (is) m, (sororal) systursonur (is) m Ido: nevulo (io) Ilocano: kaanakan a lalaki Indonesian: keponakan (id), kemenakan (id), misan (id) (either nephew or niece) Irish: nia m Old Irish: nïa m Italian: nipote (it) m Japanese: 甥 (ja) (おい, oi) Kashmiri: (fraternal) باپتھٕر‎ (ks) (bāpthụr), (fraternal) بابتھٕر‎ (ks) (bābthụr), (sororal) بؠنتھٕر‎ (ks) (byanthụr) Korean: 조카 (ko) (joka) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: (brother's son or daughter) بِرازا‎ (ku) (biraza) Ladino: sovrino m Latin: (fraternal) filius fratris m, (sororal) filius sororis m, nepos (la) m Lithuanian: sūnėnas m Lombard: nevod (lmo) m Low German: (fraternal) Broderjung m, (fraternal) Brodersöhn m, (fraternal) Broderkind n, (sororal) Süsterjung m, (sororal) Swesterjung m, (sororal) Süstersöhn m, (sororal) Swestersöhn m, (sororal) Süsterkind n, (sororal) Swesterkind n Lutshootseed: staləł Macedonian: бра́танец m (brátanec) (fraternal), се́стричник m (séstričnik) (sororal) Malay: anak saudara, anak saudara lelaki Maltese: neputi m, neputija f Maori: tamaiti whakaangi, irāmutu, tapairu Marathi: भाचा m (bhācā) Mauritian Creole: neve Middle English: nevew, neve Norman: n'veu m Northern Ohlone: méses Northern Sami: (fraternal) vieljabárdni, (sororal) oappábárdni Occitan: nebot (oc) m Old English: nefa m Pennsylvania German: Neffyu m Plautdietsch: Plemmenikj m Polish: (fraternal) bratanek (pl) m, (sororal) siostrzeniec (pl) m Portuguese: sobrinho (pt) m Primitive Irish: ᚅᚔᚑᚈᚈᚐ (niotta) Quechua: kuncha Romanian: nepot (ro) m Romansch: nev, neiv, neav Russian: племя́нник (ru) m (plemjánnik) Sardinian: nebode, nebodi, nabode, nepode, nepote Scottish Gaelic: (fraternal) mac-bràthar (gd) m, (sororal) mac-peathar (gd) m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: (fraternal) братанац m, (fraternal) синовац m, (sororal) сестрић m, (either) нећак m Roman: (fraternal) bratanac (sh) m, (fraternal) sinovac (sh) m, (sororal) sestrić m, (either) nećak m Seri: (of a male) aac Seychellois Creole: neve Sicilian: niputi (scn) m Slovak: synovec (sk) m Slovene: nečak (sl) m Spanish: sobrino (es) m Swahili: mpwa (sw) Swedish: nevö (sv) c, (fraternal) brorson (sv) c, (sororal) systerson (sv) c Tagalog: pamangking lalaki Taos: kìłu’úna Telugu: మేనల్లుడు (te) (mēnalluḍu) Thai: หลานชาย (lǎan-chaai) Turkish: erkek yeğen Ukrainian: племі́нник m (plemínnyk), не́біж (uk) m (nébiž) Urdu: بھتیجا‎ m (bhatījā) Venetian: nevódo m, neodo m Volapük: (fraternal or sororal, ♂♀) nef (vo), (fraternal or sororal) hinef (vo), (fraternal, ♂♀) blodanef, (fraternal) blodahinef, (fraternal) blodason (vo), (sororal, ♂♀) söranef, (sororal) sörahinef, (sororal) sörason (vo), (fraternal, ♂♀) blodacil (vo), (fraternal) blodahicil, (sororal, ♂♀) söracil (vo), (sororal) sörahicil Walloon: neveu (wa) m Welsh: nai (cy) m, neiaint (cy) m pl Yiddish: פּלימעניק‎ m (plimenik) Yámana: yamana-maku

Further reading

• nephew on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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Middle English

Noun

nephew

1. Alternative form of nevew