Etymologically
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sibling

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/, /ˈsɪb.lin/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sibling (“relative”),[2] inherited from Old English sibling (“relative, kinsman”),[3][4][5][6] formed from Old English sibb + -ling.[4][5][6][7] The OED takes the base to be the adjective sibb, related, because Old English also had a form gesibling from the adjective gesibb;[4] Etymonline takes it to be the noun sibb, kinship, relationship, love or peace.[5] The word goes back to Proto-Germanic *sibja- (“blood relation, one's own”),[5] the source also of Old Saxon sibba, Old High German sippa (“kinship, family”), German Sippe, Old Norse sifjar (“relatives”) and Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌱𐌾𐌰 (sibja, “kinship”).[5][8][9] Etymonline traces it further to Proto-Indo-European *s(w)e-bh(o)-, an enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *swe- (“self”).[5] The same root is the second part of gossip.[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A relative, kinsman or kinswoman: in Old English, in Ælfric's version of Genesis, in a question asking whether one has sons, daughters, a son-in-law or any other relative.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In the sense "relative" the word died out at the end of the Middle English period; the OED's last record is from 1500.[4][6] It was revived in 1900 by the statistician Karl Pearson, who regretted that English had no word for either member of a pair of offspring of the same parents and chose to "reintroduce a good Anglo-Saxon word".[4] The new sense spread through genetics[4] and, according to Etymonline, anthropology,[5] as an equivalent of German Geschwister.[5] Sibling rivalry is recorded by 1937 and sibling group by 1950,[5] and the figurative use, for things related by a common tie, from 1953.[4][7] The short form sib dates from 1957.[5]

Timeline

  • Old English – sibling, a relative.[4][3]
  • 1500 – last record of the sense "relative".[4]
  • 1900 – revived by Karl Pearson: a brother or sister.[4]
  • 1937 – sibling rivalry.[5]
  • 1953 – figurative, a thing related to another by a common tie.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A brother or sister; one of two or more people with the same parents, or sometimes one parent in common: She has three siblings, all older.[7][10][4]
  2. A member of a sib, a group of people descended from a common ancestor.[10][7]
  3. One of two or more things related by a common tie.[7][4]
  4. (obsolete) A relative or kinsman.[4][6][2]

Word family

  • half-sibling
  • stepsibling
  • sibling species

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins