nephew

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈnef.juː/, /ˈnev.juː/, US /ˈnef.juː/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French neveu (“grandson, descendant”),^[2][3][4] from nepōs (“sister's son, grandson, descendant”) (stem nepōt-),^[2][3][4] cognate with Sanskrit नपा॑त् (nápāt), Old Lithuanian nepuotis, Old Irish nia, sister's son, and Old English nefa, Dutch neef and German Neffe.^[4][5][6] The spelling with ph was taken from the Latin.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The son of one's brother or sister, also a grandson or kinsman: about 1300.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

Nephew once covered a wider group of descendants: a grandson (1297, common in the 17th century), a more distant descendant (1387), and even a niece (1494).^[7][8] Trench noted that the narrowing to a brother's or sister's son matched the change in Latin nepos, and that the grandson sense still lived in East Anglian speech.^[8] From 1587 nephew was a euphemism for a priest's illegitimate son,^[7] which is behind nepotism, the favour once shown to popes' “nephews”.^[9]

Timeline

• 1297 – a brother's or sister's son; a grandson.^[7]
• 1387 – a descendant.^[7]
• 1494 – a niece (obsolete).^[7]
• 1587 – a cleric's illegitimate son.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A son of one's brother or sister, or of the brother or sister of one's spouse.
2. (euphemism) The illegitimate son of a celibate cleric.

Word family

• grandnephew
• great-nephew

Related words

• nepotism
• niece

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press