4.1.9 Kinship

Use this domain for general words for family relationships, not for specific terms.

Related domains: 
4.1 Relationships
OMC Codes: 
600 Kinship
601 Kinship Terminology
Louw Nida Codes: 
10 Kinship Terms
  • What words are used to indicate that two people are related?
    be related (to someone),
  • What words refer to the relationship among members of a family?
    kinship, relationship, close relation,
  • What words refer to a member of your family or larger kin group?
    relative, in-law, kinsman, relation, distant relation, distantly related, extended family, folk, house, household, kin, kindred, kinfolk, kinsman, kinswoman,
  • What words refer to groups of people who are related by kinship?
    family, clan, tribe, nation
  • What words refer to a single generation?
    generation
  • What words refer to talking to someone in order to discover how you are related to them?
    (none in English)

    • 4.1.9.1 Related by birth

    Use this domain for words referring to being related by birth--when one of your ancestors and one of someone else's ancestors are the same person.

    OMC Codes: 
    602 Kin Relationships
    Louw Nida Codes: 
    10A Groups and Members of Groups of Persons Regarded as Related by Blood but without Special Reference to Successive Generations
    10B Kinship Relations Involving Successive Generations
  • What words refer to being related by birth?
    related by blood, be descended from, descent, direct line, lineal descent, consanguine,
  • What words refer to someone who is related to you by birth?
    blood relation,
  • What words refer to a listing of your ancestors?
    genealogy, lineage, pedigree, family tree,
  • What words refer to inheriting physical traits from your ancestors?
    genetics, inherit, heredity, run in the family, pass on, take after, bad blood, genes, breeding

    • 4.1.9.1.1 Grandfather, grandmother

    Use this domain for words referring to grandparents and ancestors.

    OMC Codes: 
    603 Grandparents and Grandchildren
  • What words refer to the parents of your parents?
    grandparent, grandfather, grandmother
  • What words refer to your ancestors?
    ancestor, forefather, forbearer, patriarch, matriarch, progenitor, background, origins
  • What words describe something having to do with your ancestors?
    ancestral, ancestry,

    • 4.1.9.1.2 Father, mother

    Use this domain for words related to parents.

  • What words refer to your parents?
    parent, folks,
  • What words refer to your father?
    father, dad, old man, pa, papa, sire,
  • What words do you use when talking to your father?
    Dad, Father, Daddy, Pop,
  • What words refer to your mother?
    mother, mom, mum, ma, mama
  • What words do you use when talking to your mother?
    Mom, Mum, Mother, Mommy, Mummy,
  • What words refer to the state of being a parent?
    fatherhood, motherhood, parenthood,
  • What words describe something having to do with your parents?
    parental, paternal, maternal, fatherly, motherly, parentage
  • If your father has more than one wife, what do you call his other wives?
    father's wife, second wife
  • If your father dies and your mother remarries, what do you call your mother's second husband?
    stepfather
  • If your mother dies and your father remarries, what do you call your father's second wife?
    stepmother

    • 4.1.9.1.3 Brother, sister

    Use this domain for words related to siblings.

    Related domains: 
    4.1.9.1.9 Birth order
    Louw Nida Codes: 
    10C Kinship Relations of the Same Generation
  • What words refer to the children of your father and mother?
    sibling, brother, sister
  • What words indicate the order in which your brothers and sisters were born?
    elder brother, elder sister, younger brother, younger sister
  • What words refer to the children of your father by another mother, or of your mother by another father?
    half-brother, half-sister
  • When your father or mother marries a person who already has children by a previous marriage, what words refer to those children?
    stepbrother, stepsister

    • 4.1.9.1.4 Son, daughter

    Use this domain for words referring to your children.

  • What words refer to your children?
    child, son, daughter, heir, scion, kid,
  • What words refer to all your children?
    children, family, issue, brood,
  • If you marry someone who already has children, what do you call his/her children?
    stepson, stepdaughter, stepchild,

    • 4.1.9.1.5 Grandson, granddaughter

    Use this domain for words referring to your grandchildren.

    OMC Codes: 
    603 Grandparents and Grandchildren
  • What words refer to the children of your children?
    grandchild, grandson, granddaughter
  • What words refer to your descendants?
    descendant, offshoot, offspring, posterity, progeny, line,

    • 4.1.9.1.6 Uncle, aunt

    Use this domain for words related to your uncles and aunts.

    OMC Codes: 
    604 Avuncular and Nepotic Relatives
  • What words refer to your father's brother?
    uncle
  • What words refer to your father's sister?
    aunt
  • What words refer to your mother's brother?
    uncle
  • What words refer to your mother's sister?
    aunt
  • What words refer to a brother or sister of one of your grandparents?
    granduncle, grandaunt, great-uncle, great-aunt

    • 4.1.9.1.7 Cousin

    Use this domain for words referring to your cousins.

    OMC Codes: 
    605 Cousins
  • What words refer to your father's brother's child?
    cousin
  • What words refer to your father's sister's child?
    cousin
  • What words refer to your mother's brother's child?
    cousin
  • What words refer to your mother's sister's child?
    cousin

    • 4.1.9.1.8 Nephew, niece

    Use this domain for words referring to your nephews and nieces.

  • What words refer to your brother's child?
    nephew, niece
  • What words refer to your sister's child?
    nephew, niece

    • 4.1.9.1.9 Birth order

    Use this domain for words related to birth order.

    Related domains: 
    4.1.9.1.3 Brother, sister
  • What words refer to the order in which a child was born?
    oldest, youngest, firstborn, second born, last born, middle child
  • What words refer to the only child of its parents?
    only child

    • 4.1.9.2 Related by marriage

    Use this domain for words referring to being related by marriage.

    Louw Nida Codes: 
    10D Kinship Relations Based upon Marriage
  • What words refer to being related by marriage?
    related by marriage
  • What words are used of having more than one wife?
    polygamy, multiple wives
  • What words refer to people of different tribes marrying each other?
    intermarry,

    • 4.1.9.2.1 Husband, wife

    Use this domain for words related to your spouse.

  • What words are used to refer to the person you are married to?
    spouse, husband, wife, second wife

    • 4.1.9.2.2 In-law

    Use this domain for words referring to being related by marriage.

    OMC Codes: 
    606 Parents-in-Law and Children-in-Law
    607 Siblings-in-Law
  • What words refer to being related by marriage?
    be related by marriage
  • What words refer to people who are related to you by marriage?
    in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law
  • What words describe the relationship between a husband's parents and his wife's parents?
  • What words describe the relationship between a husband's siblings and his wife's siblings?

    • 4.1.9.3 Widow, widower

    Use this domain for words referring to widows and widowers. Some languages also have words for a parent who has lost a child, someone who has lost a brother or sister, or a general word for someone who has lost a relative.

  • What words are used to refer to someone whose husband or wife has died?
    widow, widower, dowager,
  • What words refer to the death of a spouse?
    be widowed, widowhood, lose your husband/wife
  • What words are used when a person marries again?
    remarry, second marriage
  • When a person remarries, what words are used of their first spouse?
    first wife, first husband
  • What words refer to someone who has a relative who has died?
    bereaved,

    • 4.1.9.4 Orphan

    Use this domain for words referring to orphans.

  • What words refer to a child whose parents have died?
    orphan, fatherless, motherless
  • What words refer to being an orphan?
    be orphaned, be an orphan
  • What words refer to a place where orphans are taken care of?
    orphanage,

    • 4.1.9.5 Illegitimate child

    Use this domain for words referring to an illegitimate child.

    OMC Codes: 
    848 Illegitimacy
  • What words refer to a child who is born to an unmarried woman?
    illegitimate child, bastard
  • What words refer to a woman having a child when she is not married?
    have a child out of wedlock
  • What words refer to being a child without a father?
    be illegitimate, fatherless
  • What words refer to a married woman having a child by another man?
    (no words in English)

    • 4.1.9.6 Adopt

    Use this domain for words related to adopting a child.

    OMC Codes: 
    597 Adoption
    Louw Nida Codes: 
    35G Adopt
  • What words refer to adopting a child?
    adopt, adoption,
  • What words refer to an adopted child?
    adopted child, foster child,
  • What words refer to the parent of an adopted child?
    adoptive father, adoptive mother, foster parent

    • 4.1.9.7 Non-relative

    Use this domain for words that refer to people who are not related by blood or marriage.

    Related domains: 
    4.1 Relationships
    OMC Codes: 
    608 Artificial Kin Relationships
    609 Behavior Toward Non-relatives
  • What words are used to refer to people who are not related to you by blood or marriage?
    non-relative, unrelated, not related

    • 4.1.9.8 Family, clan

    Use this domain for words that refer to social groups composed of related people.

    OMC Codes: 
    590 Family
    144 Racial Identification
    Racial Affinities
    591 Residence
    592 Household
    593 Family Relationships
    594 Nuclear Family
    595 Polygamy
    596 Extended Families
    610 Kin Groups
    611 Rule of Descent
    612 Kindreds and Ramages
    613 Lineages
    614 Sibs
    615 Phratries
    616 Moieties
    617 Bilinear Kin Groups
    618 Clans
    619 Tribe and Nation
    Louw Nida Codes: 
    11D Ethnic-Cultural
  • What words refer to your father, mother, and siblings?
    family, nuclear family,
  • What words refer to the people who live in your house?
    household
  • What words refer to groups of people who are related to you?
    tribe, tribal, clan, race
  • What words describe something about your family?
    family, domestic, run in the family,

    • 4.1.9.9 Race

    Use this domain for words referring to different races of people--the large groups of people in the world that are different in color and appearance.

  • What words refer to a person's race?
    race, color, ethnic group, racial, racially, ethnic, ethnicity,
  • What words refer to a person's race on the basis of their color?
    yellow, brown, black, white, red,
  • What words refer to a person's race on the basis of where their ancestors were from?
    Aborigine, African, Arab, Asian, American Indian, Caucasian, Hispanic, Indian, Latin American, Native American,
  • What words refer to mixing the races?
    integration, segregation, multiracial, interracial, cosmopolitan, multicultural, mixed,