godsib

G2O1D2S1I1B3
UK/ˈɡɒdsɪb/US/ˈɡɑdsɪb/

noun

One's sibling or kin via a godfamily tie: one's or one's child's godparent, or one's godchild's parent, or one's godparent's child.

Scrabble 10

Meanings

noungodsib (plural godsibs)

plural godsibs

  1. historicalanthropologyOne's sibling or kin via a godfamily tie: one's or one's child's godparent, or one's godchild's parent, or one's godparent's child.

    […] where 34 % of testators who mentioned godchildren were homonymous with those godsibs.

    2006, David Postles, Joel Thomas Rosenthal, Studies on the Personal Name in Later Medieval England and Wales (Western Michigan Univ.)
    5 more examples

    The fireplace also heated water for the godsibs to wash their hands with as they were instructed by the rubric to do before leaving the church.

    1920, Courtenay Frederic William Dunn, The Natural History of the Child: A Book for All Sorts and Conditions of Men, Women, and Children, page 233

    […] the Bumgardners' maid, with Preston and Penelope in tow, was exchanging defamatory gossip with her godsib Ofelia Gomez, Luke Regan's scullion.

    1965, Willard Marsh, Week with No Friday

    The Vicosino then went to his godsib and then to the Cornell Peru Project field director for confirmation of […]

    1966, Henry F. Dobyns, Paul L. Doughty, Allan R. Holmberg, Cornell Peru Project, Peace Corps Program Impact in the Peruvian Andes: Final Report

    After a man's kin and godsibs, the next allegiance is to his paisanos (fellow countrymen) or […]

    1968, Paul L. Doughty, Mary F. Doughty, Huaylas: An Andean District in Search of Progress, page 37

    […] to members of their own family, intimates (especially their godsibs), and ideally the priest, who usually is too busy to accept all invitations.

    1968, Earl W. Morris, Coming Down the Mountain: The Social Worlds of Mayobamba

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Middle Englishgodsib
  2. Englishgodsib

Learned borrowing from Middle English godsib, variant of gossib; doublet of gossip and by surface analysis, god- + sib; see those entries for more.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

godsib. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/godsib

MLA

“godsib.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/godsib. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “godsib,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/godsib.

Source: godsib on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.