nephew

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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

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
    Hypernyms: nephling, nibling
    Hyponyms: fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
    Coordinate terms: niece, nift
  2. A son of one's cousin or cousin-in-law
  3. (archaic) A son of one's child.
    Synonym: grandson

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Related terms

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Further reading

Middle English

Noun

nephew

  1. Alternative form of nevew
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