uncle

American  

[uhng-kuhl] / ˈʌŋ kəl /

noun

• uncles
  plural

1. a brother of one's father or mother.

2. an aunt's husband.

3. a familiar title or term of address for any elderly man.

4. Slang. a pawnbroker.

5. (initial capital letter) Uncle Sam.

6. a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter U.

---

idioms

1. say / cry uncle, to concede defeat.

   They ganged up on him in the schoolyard and made him say uncle.

uncle British  

/ ˈʌŋkəl /

noun

1. a brother of one's father or mother

2. the husband of one's aunt

3. a term of address sometimes used by children for a male friend of their parents

4. slang a pawnbroker

---

uncle More Idioms  

1. see cry uncle; Dutch uncle.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• uncleship
  noun
• uncleless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• uncles
  plural

Etymology

Origin of uncle

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Anglo-French uncle, Old French oncle, from Latin avunculus “mother's brother,” equivalent to av(us) “mother's father” + -unculus suffix extracted from diminutives of n-stems ( see homunculus)

Explanation

Your uncle is your parent's brother, or the man who marries one of your parent's siblings. Your favorite uncle might teach you to play chess or take you to amusement parks. Usually, an uncle is a relative — the brother of your mother, for example, or your dad's step-brother. It's also common in many cultures to have honorary uncles who are close family friends. From your uncle's perspective, you are either his niece or nephew. Colloquially, when you say or cry uncle, you're admitting defeat: "I'll let go of your arm when you say uncle!"

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

uncle uncles

Eric and his younger sister joined an aunt and uncle in Berlin.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

The niece was watching the World Cup on TV in Queens when she heard from a friend that her uncle had "burned himself" in front of the United Nations in Manhattan.

From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026

Nigel Hotham, representing his uncle, Mark Hotham, who was also among the bodies recovered from Legacy, said it had been a long time coming to get to this stage.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

An uncle and his nephew had a harrowing experience Monday afternoon when the engine on their two-seat plane died, forcing them to make an emergency landing on Huntington State Beach.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

“It sounds like your uncle Freddy has gotten off a shot.”

From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood

According to Ugen and Choedup, one of his uncles died in combat and another in prison after his capture while fighting for Chushi Gangdruk, an anti-China guerrilla force established with CIA support in 1958.

From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026

Her earliest boxing influences were her uncles, Sandeep Singh and Parvinder Singh.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

After her mother’s death, she began working with her father, Salvador, and her uncles at the family’s apiary, where they managed more than 30 hives.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

Two of Kaweenuntawong’s uncles later opened their own Bangkok beef noodle shops under the Wattana Panich name.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

I watched the Katrina coverage with a knot in my stomach, knowing that if a disaster hit Chicago, many of my aunts and uncles, cousins and neighbors, would have suffered a similar fate.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

Related Words

• aunt
• cousin
• father
• folk
• mother
• niece
• sibling