Avuncles and Niblings: Unusual words for the family

Have you spoken to your avuncle lately? How are your niblings doing?

Depending on age and gender, some languages have specific words to describe a family member. While the English language is more limited and sticks to known words such as dad, mom, brother and sister, in the past other words were used to describe those in our family tree.

Image credit: Burlington Iowa Public Library

Here are five unusual words used to describe family members. To see the full list, check out the article on Mental Floss

1. AVUNCLE

Your mother’s brother. Patruus, father’s brother, and avunculus, mother’s brother are differentiated in Latin. The word’s root comes from “avuncular,” meaning “having to do with uncles” or “uncle-like.” There was also amita, father’s sister, and matertera, mother’s sister.

2. NIBLINGS

Your nieces and nephews. This term seemed to be gaining more popularity to collectively refer to nieces and nephews, similar to siblings.

3. FADU

Your father’s sister. In Latin, amita covers this relationship, but in Old English there was also a distinction between aunts and uncles depending on whether they were maternal or paternal.

4. DOUBLE COUSIN

When a pair of sisters marries a pair of brothers, their children are full cousins who share all four grandparents.

5. EAM

Your mother’s brother. It survived in some dialects as “eme,” with a more general meaning of uncle or friend, into the 19th century.

Do you have any words that you use to describe your family? Let us know in the comments below.