Meanings
nephew1
nounnephew (plural nephews)
plural nephews
- 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).
Synonyms: neve
- A son of one's cousin or cousin-in-law
- archaicA son of one's child.
Hir father many a time and oft would say my daughter deere, Of Nephewes thou my debtour art, their Graundsires heart to chéere.
1567, Ovid, “The First Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLCSynonyms: grandson
- Descendant
On that day Adam shall see all his nephews together
1647, John Trapp, Commentary on the Epistles and Revelation, page 147
Nephew2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA 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).
Similar
nounA son of one's child.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
nephew · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*népōts“grandchild, sister's son”
- Proto-Italic*nepōts“nephew, grandson”
- Latinnepos, nepōtem
- Old Frenchneveu
- Middle Englishnevew
- Englishnephew
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). Doublet of neve. Spelt with -ph- by readaptation to Latin nepos since the 15th century, which later triggered the spelling pronunciation with /f/.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans neef
- neeffraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Ancient Greek ἀδελφιδοῦς
- ἀδελφιδοῦς (adelphidoûs)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Arabic اِبْنُ أَخٍ, اِبْنُ أُخْتٍ
- اِبْنُ أَخٍ (ibnu ʔaḵin)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- اِبْنُ أُخْتٍ (ibnu ʔuḵtin)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Basque iloba
- ilobafraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Bengali ভাইপো
- ভাইপো (bhaipō)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Bulgarian пле́менник
- пле́менник (plémennik)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Catalan nebot
- nebotfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Chinese Mandarin 姪 /侄, 姪子 /侄子
- 姪 /侄 (zhí)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- 姪子 /侄子 (zhízǐ)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- 外甥 (wàishēng)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Czech synovec
- synovecfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Danish nevø
- nevøfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Dutch neef
- neeffraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Esperanto nevo
- nevofraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Estonian vennapoeg, õepoeg
- vennapoegfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- õepoegfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Finnish veljenpoika, sisarenpoika
- veljenpoikafraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- sisarenpoikafraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
French neveu
- neveufraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
German Neffe
- Neffefraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Greek ανιψιός
- ανιψιός (anipsiós)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Hebrew אחיין, אַחְיָן
- אחייןfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- אַחְיָן (akhyán)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Hindi भतीजा, भांजा
- भतीजा (bhatījā)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- भांजा (bhāñjā)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Hungarian unokaöcs
- unokaöcsfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Icelandic bróðursonur, systursonur
- bróðursonurfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- systursonurfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Indonesian keponakan, kemenakan
- keponakanfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- kemenakanfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- misanfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Irish nia
- niafraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Italian nipote
- nipotefraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Japanese 甥
- 甥 (oi)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Korean 조카
- 조카 (joka)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Latin sobrinus, fratruelis
- sobrinusfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- fratruelisfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- filius fratrisfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- filius sororisfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- neposfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Latvian brāļadēls, māsasdēls
- brāļadēlsfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- māsasdēlsfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Lithuanian sūnėnas
- sūnėnasfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Malay anak saudara, anak saudara lelaki
- anak saudarafraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- anak saudara lelakifraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- penakanfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Māori tamaiti whakaangi, irāmutu
- tamaiti whakaangifraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- irāmutufraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- tapairufraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Norwegian Bokmål nevø
- nevøfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Polish bratanek, siostrzeniec
- bratanekfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- siostrzeniecfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Portuguese sobrinho
- sobrinhofraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Romanian nepot
- nepotfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Russian племя́нник, племя́ш
- племя́нник (plemjánnik)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- племя́ш (plemjáš)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Scottish Gaelic mac-bràthar, mac-peathar
- mac-bràtharfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- mac-peatharfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Slovak synovec
- synovecfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Spanish sobrino
- sobrinofraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Swahili mpwa
- mpwafraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Swedish nevö, brorson
- nevöfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- brorsonfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- systersonfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Tagalog pamangking lalaki
- pamangking lalakifraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Thai หลานชาย
- หลานชาย (lǎan-chaai)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Turkish erkek yeğen
- erkek yeğenfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Ukrainian племі́нник, не́біж
- племі́нник (plemínnyk)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- не́біж (nébiž)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Urdu بَھتِیجا, بھان٘جا
- بَھتِیجا (bhatījā)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- بھان٘جا (bhāñjā)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Vietnamese cháu trai
- cháu traifraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Welsh nai, neiaint
- naifraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
- neiaintfraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Yiddish פּלימעניק
- פּלימעניק (plimenik)fraternal or sororal nephew — see also fraternal nephew, sororal nephew
Cite this entry
APA
nephew. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nephew
MLA
“nephew.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nephew. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nephew,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nephew.
Source: nephew on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.