sibling

CEFRC2

/ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A brother or sister.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A node in a data structure that shares its parent with another node.

Examples

  • Older children tend to be less jealous than their younger sibling.

  • There was a lot of sibling rivalry between Tom and his brother.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2

Also pronounced

  • /ˈsɪb.lin/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The most closely related species, or one of several most closely related species when none can be determined to be more closely related.

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

More examples

In context

  • I have only one sibling.

  • None of my siblings are married yet.

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

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

My older blank always protected me when we were children playing together.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

First use appears c. 1903, a 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 citation in 1902 in which sibling must be defined for those who do not know the intended meaning.