Piblings󿌼​&󿍰​Niblings:󿌼​Do󿍰​You󿍰​Know󿌼​These󿌼​Words󿌼​For󿌼​Aunts,󿍰​Uncles,󿍰​Nieces,󿍰​&󿌼​Nephews? 0

For󿌼​many󿍰​of󿌼​us,󿌼​our󿍰​parents’󿌼​siblings󿍰​are󿍰​a󿌼​big󿍰​part󿍰​of󿍰​our󿌼​life—from󿍰​providing󿌼​love󿍰​and󿌼​support󿌼​to,󿍰​let’󿍰​s󿌼​be󿌼​honest,󿌼​spoiling󿍰​us.󿌼​National󿌼​Aunts󿌼​and󿌼​Uncles󿍰​Day󿍰​on󿍰​July󿌼​26󿍰​is󿌼​a󿌼​time󿍰​to󿍰​honor󿍰​and󿍰​show󿌼​our󿌼​appreciation󿌼​for󿍰​these󿌼​family󿍰​members󿍰​(and󿌼​not󿍰​just󿍰​because󿌼​they󿍰​let󿍰​us󿌼​do󿌼​the󿌼​stuff󿍰​our󿍰​parents󿍰​wouldn’󿍰​t)󿍰​.󿌼​But,󿍰​perhaps󿍰​because󿍰​they’󿌼​re󿌼​so󿌼​under-appreciated,󿌼​there󿍰​isn’󿍰​t󿌼​a󿌼​common,󿌼​single󿍰​term󿍰​to󿍰​refer󿍰​to󿍰​them󿍰​all󿌼​at󿌼​once. 0

Think󿍰​about󿌼​it:󿍰​we󿍰​can󿌼​refer󿌼​to󿌼​moms󿍰​and󿌼​dads󿌼​as󿌼​parents󿍰​and󿍰​brothers󿍰​and󿌼​sisters󿌼​as󿍰​siblings.󿍰​Each󿍰​word󿍰​can󿍰​also󿍰​be󿍰​used󿍰​in󿌼​the󿌼​singular󿌼​to󿍰​refer󿌼​to󿌼​such󿍰​a󿌼​relative󿌼​without󿌼​specifying󿍰​their󿍰​gender—which󿌼​is󿍰​also󿍰​the󿌼​case󿍰​for󿌼​cousin.󿍰​But󿌼​what󿌼​about󿍰​aunts󿍰​and󿌼​uncles—or󿍰​their󿍰​counterparts,󿌼​nieces󿍰​and󿍰​nephews?  0

Well,󿌼​it󿍰​turns󿍰​out󿌼​there󿌼​are󿍰​some󿍰​terms󿍰​we󿍰​can󿌼​use󿍰​to󿍰​refer󿍰​to󿍰​these󿍰​important󿍰​relatives󿌼​when󿍰​we’󿍰​re󿍰​talking󿍰​about󿍰​more󿍰​than󿍰​one.󿌼​Not󿌼​only󿍰​that,󿌼​these󿍰​terms󿍰​are󿌼​great󿍰​examples󿍰​of󿌼​gender-neutral󿌼​and󿍰​gender-inclusive󿍰​language󿍰​that󿌼​can󿍰​make󿍰​it󿍰​easier󿌼​to󿌼​refer󿍰​to󿍰​and󿌼​address󿍰​the󿍰​relatives󿌼​we󿌼​love—regardless󿍰​of󿌼​their󿍰​gender. 0

Aunt󿌼​and󿍰​uncle 0

You’󿍰​re󿌼​familiar󿌼​with󿌼​the󿍰​terms󿌼​aunt󿌼​and󿍰​uncle,󿌼​but󿌼​do󿌼​you󿌼​know󿌼​where󿍰​they󿍰​come󿍰​from?󿍰​The󿌼​word󿍰​aunt󿌼​ultimately󿌼​comes󿍰​from󿍰​the󿍰​Latin󿍰​amita,󿍰​meaning󿌼​“father’󿌼​s󿌼​sister.”󿍰​In󿌼​modern󿌼​use,󿌼​aunt󿌼​can󿌼​refer󿍰​to󿍰​the󿍰​sister󿍰​of󿌼​one’󿍰​s󿍰​parent󿍰​or󿌼​to󿌼​the󿍰​female󿍰​partner󿍰​of󿍰​a󿍰​parent’󿌼​s󿌼​sibling󿍰​(your󿍰​mom’󿌼​s󿍰​sister’󿍰​s󿍰​wife,󿌼​for󿍰​example)󿍰​.󿍰​The󿍰​word󿌼​uncle󿌼​is󿍰​the󿌼​male󿌼​equivalent,󿍰​referring󿌼​to󿌼​the󿍰​brother󿌼​of󿍰​one’󿌼​s󿌼​parent󿍰​or󿌼​the󿌼​male󿍰​partner󿍰​of󿍰​a󿍰​parent’󿌼​s󿌼​sibling󿌼​(your󿍰​dad’󿍰​s󿌼​sister’󿍰​s󿌼​husband,󿍰​for󿍰​example)󿍰​.󿌼​It󿍰​ultimately󿌼​comes󿍰​from󿍰​the󿌼​Latin󿌼​avunculus,󿍰​meaning󿍰​“mother’󿍰​s󿍰​brother.”  0

If󿍰​that󿍰​Latin󿍰​root󿌼​looks󿍰​familiar,󿍰​it󿌼​might󿌼​be󿍰​because󿍰​you’󿌼​ve󿍰​heard󿌼​the󿌼​adjective󿍰​avuncular.󿍰​It󿌼​literally󿌼​means󿌼​“of󿍰​or󿍰​relating󿍰​to󿌼​an󿍰​uncle,”󿌼​but󿍰​we󿌼​most󿌼​commonly󿌼​use󿌼​it󿍰​in󿌼​a󿍰​figurative󿌼​way󿍰​to󿍰​describe󿌼​someone,󿍰​usually󿍰​a󿌼​man,󿌼​as󿌼​“kind,󿍰​patient,󿌼​and󿍰​generous,󿌼​especially󿌼​to󿍰​younger󿍰​people—like󿍰​a󿌼​good󿌼​uncle󿌼​is.”󿌼​The󿍰​less󿍰​commonly󿍰​known󿌼​adjective󿍰​materteral󿍰​is󿍰​specifically󿌼​used󿌼​to󿍰​describe󿌼​things󿍰​relating󿍰​to󿍰​a󿍰​maternal󿌼​aunt󿌼​(the󿌼​sister󿍰​of󿍰​one’󿌼​s󿌼​mother)󿍰​.  0

Many󿌼​languages󿌼​have󿍰​specific󿍰​words󿌼​for󿍰​aunts󿍰​or󿍰​uncles󿌼​depending󿌼​on󿍰​what󿍰​side󿌼​of󿌼​the󿍰​family󿍰​they󿌼​come󿍰​from.󿍰​Old󿌼​English,󿌼​for󿌼​example,󿍰​had󿍰​two󿍰​words󿍰​for󿍰​uncle:󿌼​fædera,󿍰​for󿍰​the󿌼​paternal󿌼​uncle,󿍰​and󿍰​ēam,󿍰​for󿌼​the󿌼​maternal󿌼​uncle.󿌼​In󿌼​Swedish,󿌼​the󿌼​word󿍰​for󿍰​a󿌼​paternal󿍰​uncle󿌼​is󿍰​farbror󿌼​(​“father’󿍰​s󿌼​brother”)󿌼​and󿌼​the󿍰​word󿌼​for󿍰​a󿌼​maternal󿌼​uncle󿌼​is󿌼​morbror󿌼​(​“mother’󿍰​s󿌼​brother”)󿌼​.󿍰​Similar󿌼​distinctions󿌼​exist󿌼​in󿌼​many󿌼​other󿍰​languages,󿍰​including󿍰​Tamil󿍰​and󿍰​Ukrainian.  0

Gender-neutral󿌼​and󿌼​nonbinary󿍰​terms󿌼​for󿍰​aunt󿍰​and󿍰​uncle 0

When󿌼​it󿌼​comes󿍰​to󿌼​referring󿍰​to󿍰​a󿌼​mixed󿍰​group󿍰​of󿌼​aunts󿍰​and󿌼​uncles󿌼​(like󿍰​we󿍰​can󿌼​do󿌼​with󿍰​parents󿍰​or󿌼​siblings󿍰​when󿍰​referring󿍰​to󿍰​those󿍰​relatives)󿌼​,󿍰​the󿍰​language󿌼​is󿍰​far󿌼​from󿍰​settled.󿌼​That󿍰​said,󿍰​one󿌼​term󿍰​that󿌼​has󿌼​become󿍰​increasingly󿌼​popular󿌼​is󿍰​pibling.󿍰​Pibling󿍰​can󿍰​refer󿌼​to󿍰​either󿍰​an󿍰​aunt󿍰​or󿌼​an󿌼​uncle󿌼​and󿌼​is󿌼​modeled󿍰​on󿌼​sibling,󿌼​blended󿍰​with󿌼​the󿌼​P󿌼​from󿌼​parent.󿌼​For󿍰​example: 0

-󿍰​My󿍰​piblings󿍰​Alex,󿍰​Jo,󿍰​and󿌼​Alice󿍰​took󿍰​me󿍰​to󿌼​the󿌼​baseball󿌼​game󿍰​last󿌼​week.   0

Pibling󿍰​can󿌼​also󿌼​be󿌼​used󿍰​as󿌼​a󿌼​gender-neutral󿍰​or󿌼​nonbinary󿍰​term󿌼​to󿍰​refer󿍰​to󿍰​the󿍰​sibling󿍰​of󿌼​a󿌼​parent󿌼​regardless󿌼​of󿍰​their󿍰​gender󿍰​identity.󿍰​There󿌼​are󿌼​also󿌼​other󿌼​gender-neutral󿍰​or󿍰​nonbinary󿍰​terms󿍰​for󿍰​aunt󿍰​and󿍰​uncle󿍰​that󿍰​some󿍰​people󿌼​use󿌼​or󿌼​have󿍰​proposed,󿍰​including: 0

-󿍰​titi:󿌼​modeled󿍰​on󿍰​terms󿌼​for󿍰​aunt󿍰​and󿌼​uncle󿌼​in󿍰​Spanish󿍰​(tía󿍰​and󿍰​tío) 0

-󿌼​zizi:󿌼​modeled󿍰​on󿍰​terms󿌼​for󿍰​aunt󿍰​and󿍰​uncle󿍰​in󿍰​Italian󿍰​(zia󿍰​and󿌼​zio)  0

-󿌼​bibi:󿍰​modeled󿍰​on󿍰​titi󿍰​and󿌼​zizi,󿌼​with󿍰​the󿌼​B󿌼​from󿌼​nonbinary󿍰​(which󿌼​is󿍰​often󿍰​abbreviated󿌼​as󿌼​nb)  0

-󿍰​nini:󿌼​similarly󿌼​modeled󿌼​on󿌼​titi󿌼​and󿌼​zizi,󿍰​with󿍰​the󿍰​N󿍰​from󿍰​nonbinary   0

Some󿍰​terms󿌼​are󿍰​used󿍰​by󿌼​those󿌼​who󿌼​identify󿍰​as󿌼​gender-fluid󿍰​or󿍰​in󿌼​other󿍰​ways,󿍰​including:  0

-󿌼​auncle󿍰​[ahn-kuhl]󿍰​:󿌼​a󿍰​combination󿍰​of󿍰​aunt󿌼​and󿍰​uncle 0

-󿍰​unty/untie:󿍰​a󿌼​combination󿍰​of󿍰​uncle󿌼​and󿍰​aunty/auntie  0

When󿍰​it󿌼​comes󿍰​to󿍰​using󿍰​these󿌼​words,󿌼​the󿌼​key󿌼​is,󿌼​as󿍰​always,󿍰​respect.󿌼​Use󿍰​the󿍰​term󿍰​your󿌼​relative󿌼​prefers.󿌼​If󿍰​you’󿌼​re󿍰​considering󿍰​what󿍰​term󿌼​to󿍰​use󿌼​for󿍰​yourself,󿍰​this󿌼​resource󿍰​from󿌼​the󿍰​organization󿌼​known󿌼​as󿍰​A󿌼​Gender󿌼​Agenda󿍰​lists󿍰​several󿌼​options. 0

Niece,󿍰​nephew,󿌼​and󿍰​nibling   0

The󿌼​terms󿌼​for󿍰​niece󿌼​and󿌼​nephew󿌼​are󿌼​also󿌼​gendered󿌼​in󿍰​the󿌼​way󿍰​that󿌼​aunt󿍰​and󿌼​uncle󿍰​are.󿍰​Niece󿍰​ultimately󿌼​comes󿌼​from󿍰​the󿌼​Latin󿍰​neptis,󿍰​meaning󿌼​“granddaughter.”󿌼​Of󿌼​course,󿍰​in󿌼​English󿌼​a󿌼​niece󿍰​is󿌼​not󿌼​a󿍰​granddaughter—she’󿍰​s󿌼​“the󿍰​daughter󿌼​of󿍰​one’󿍰​s󿍰​sibling.”󿌼​Nephew󿌼​(​“the󿌼​son󿍰​of󿍰​one’󿍰​s󿌼​sibling”)󿌼​ultimately󿌼​comes󿌼​from󿌼​the󿍰​Latin󿍰​nepōs,󿌼​meaning󿌼​“nephew,󿌼​grandson.” 0

The󿌼​linguist󿌼​Samuel󿌼​Martin󿍰​is󿌼​credited󿌼​with󿌼​coining󿌼​the󿌼​gender-neutral󿌼​nibling󿌼​in󿌼​the󿌼​1950s.󿌼​Nibling,󿌼​like󿌼​pibling,󿌼​is󿍰​modeled󿍰​on󿌼​sibling,󿌼​with󿍰​the󿌼​addition󿍰​of󿍰​the󿍰​letter󿍰​N󿍰​from󿍰​niece󿍰​and󿌼​nephew. 0

Other󿍰​proposed󿌼​nonbinary󿍰​or󿍰​gender-inclusive󿌼​terms󿍰​for󿌼​niece󿍰​and󿌼​nephew󿌼​include:  0

-󿍰​niephling:󿌼​a󿌼​combination󿍰​of󿌼​niece,󿍰​nephew,󿍰​and󿍰​sibling 0

-󿌼​neiph/nephiece/niephew:󿌼​combinations󿍰​of󿌼​niece󿌼​and󿌼​nephew  0

-󿍰​chibling:󿍰​a󿍰​combination󿍰​of󿌼​child󿌼​and󿍰​sibling 0

-󿌼​sibkid:󿍰​a󿍰​shortening󿌼​of󿌼​sibling’󿌼​s󿌼​kid 0

Gender-neutral󿌼​and󿍰​gender-inclusive󿌼​terminology󿍰​for󿍰​aunts,󿌼​uncles,󿍰​nieces,󿌼​and󿍰​nephews󿍰​is󿍰​relatively󿌼​new󿍰​and󿍰​continues󿍰​to󿌼​evolve.󿌼​If󿌼​none󿌼​of󿌼​the󿍰​terms󿍰​mentioned󿌼​here󿍰​suit󿍰​you󿍰​(or󿌼​your󿌼​relative)󿍰​,󿍰​there󿌼​is󿍰​always󿌼​an󿍰​option󿍰​to󿌼​create󿍰​your󿍰​own,󿌼​just󿌼​like󿍰​we󿌼​do󿌼​with󿌼​other󿍰​kinship󿌼​terms.󿌼​For󿌼​example,󿌼​rather󿌼​than󿌼​use󿌼​traditional󿍰​terms󿌼​like󿍰​Grandma󿍰​or󿍰​Grandpa,󿌼​some󿌼​grandparents󿌼​prefer󿌼​to󿌼​create󿍰​their󿌼​own󿍰​titles,󿍰​like󿌼​Pipp󿍰​or󿌼​Birdy.󿍰​The󿍰​same󿍰​creativity󿌼​can󿌼​be󿌼​used󿌼​to󿍰​create󿍰​your󿍰​own󿌼​alternative󿍰​terms󿌼​for󿌼​aunt,󿍰​uncle,󿌼​niece,󿌼​and󿌼​nephew.󿍰​The󿍰​word󿌼​you󿍰​come󿌼​up󿌼​with󿌼​might󿍰​even󿌼​become󿍰​the󿍰​one󿌼​that󿍰​everyone󿍰​starts󿌼​to󿍰​use.  0