Uncle Meaning

/ˈʌŋ.kl̩/
A1

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounThe brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent.

nounThe male cousin of one’s parent.

Is your uncle still abroad?
Where does your uncle live?
I don't have much contact with my uncle.
Synonyms:
None
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
My ____ came to visit us last weekend with his wife and children.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
My ____ lives in a beautiful old house in the countryside and we like to visit him every single summer today.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwh₂os Latin avunculus Old French unclebor. Middle English uncle English uncle From Middle English uncle, borrowed from Anglo-Norman uncle and Old French oncle, from Vulgar Latin *aunclum, from Latin avunculus (“maternal uncle”, literally “little grandfather”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂euh₂-n-tlo- (“little grandfather”), a dialectal diminutive of *h₂éwh₂ō (“grandfather, adult male relative other than one’s father”) (whence also Latin avus (“grandfather”)). Displaced native Middle English em (“uncle”) from Old English ēam (“maternal uncle”), containing the same Proto-Indo-European root, and Old English fædera (“paternal uncle”). Compare Saterland Frisian Unkel (“uncle”), Dutch nonkel (“uncle”), German Low German Unkel (“uncle”), German Onkel (“uncle”), Danish onkel (“uncle”). More at eam and eame.

"And it was while all were passionately intent upon the pleasing and snake-like progress of their uncle that a young girl in furs, ascending the stairs two at a time, peeped perfunctorily into the nursery as she passed the hallway—and halted amazed." — 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 14:
"Plain old uncle as he [Socrates] was, with his great ears, — an immense talker." — 1850, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Representative Men:
"Betelgeuse Five, where he both fathered and uncled Ford" — 1979, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
My ____ came to visit us last weekend with his wife and children.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
My ____ lives in a beautiful old house in the countryside and we like to visit him every single summer today.

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