Etymologically
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niece

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Pronunciation

  • /niːs/, /nis/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English nece, borrowed from Anglo-Norman nece and Old French niece (“niece; granddaughter”) (earlier niepce),[2][3][4][5] from Late Latin neptia,[2][3] which replaced Latin neptis (“granddaughter, female descendant”), the feminine of nepōs (“grandson, nephew”).[5][6][3] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1155.[7] The Latin words go back to an Indo-European kinship term,[8][9] also seen in Lithuanian neptė,[10][11] Old Irish necht and Welsh nith.[5] Its Germanic form, Proto-Germanic *niftiz,[8][12] gave Old English nift, Old Norse nipt, German Nichte and Dutch nicht.[13][11][8] The Middle English descendant nifte was displaced by the French word, in Barnhart's view during the 16th century.[4][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A female relative, especially a cousin: about 1300.[3] The now usual sense, the daughter of one's brother or sister, follows about 1325, in Robert of Gloucester's chronicle.[3]

Semantic evolution

Like nephew, the word long had a looser meaning than today, covering any kinswoman and especially a granddaughter, as Latin neptis had.[15][5] The granddaughter sense is recorded from 1387 and lasted until about 1600 in general English and into the 18th century in Scotland;[3][16][5] in Kent dialect niece still meant a granddaughter about 1900.[17] Trench quotes Philemon Holland's Pliny, in which Augustus saw "the nephew of his niece", that is, his great-great-grandson.[15] Wycliffe's Bible of 1382 used nece even of a male relative, a use the OED records later in African American English.[3] Niece was also a euphemism: from 1667 for a prostitute,[18] and in the 19th century for the illegitimate daughter of a priest.[3][2]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – a female relative, a cousin.[3]
  • c. 1325 – the daughter of one's brother or sister.[3]
  • a1382 – a male relative, a nephew.[3]
  • a1387 – a granddaughter (obsolete by 1782).[3]
  • 1667 – euphemism for a prostitute.[18]
  • 1858 – euphemism for an illegitimate daughter.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A daughter of one's brother or sister, or of one's brother-in-law or sister-in-law.
  2. (obsolete) A granddaughter or other female descendant.
  3. (historical) The illegitimate daughter of a celibate cleric.

Word family

  • grandniece
  • great-niece

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  13. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  14. ^ Onions, C. T., ed. (1966), The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  15. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  16. ^ Skeat, Walter W.; Mayhew, A. L. (1914), A Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  18. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com