niece

[nees]

noun

1. a daughter of a person's brother or sister.

2. a daughter of a person's spouse's brother or sister.

niece

/ niːs /

noun

1. a daughter of one's sister or brother

Word History and Origins

Origin of niece¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English nece, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin neptia (unrecorded), from Latin neptis “granddaughter”; replacing Middle English nifte, Old English nift; cognate with Old Frisian, Old High German nift, Dutch nicht, Old Norse nipt; akin to Lithuanian neptė̃, Sanskrit naptī; nephew

Word History and Origins

Origin of niece¹

C13: from Old French niece granddaughter, ultimately from Latin neptis granddaughter

Example Sentences

She expects to spend the most on her nieces and nephews.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

After asking questions about her family background, Enat says the soldiers began insulting her, then threatened her niece with a gun when the little girl started crying.

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“And a niece, don’t forget!” put in Miss Mortimer.

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Whitten took over the conversation, as normal, yet confronted his niece when he hung up the phone.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

With three nieces between the ages of 2 and 6, I think of these matters often.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• aunt 
• cousin 
• father 
• folk 
• mother 
• sibling 
• uncle 

When To Use

Spelling tips for niece

The word niece is hard to spell because it can be hard to remember the order of the i and e. Sometimes people want to spell it neice, which is incorrect.How to spell niece: The easiest way to remember how to spell niece is with the classic mnemonic device: “I before E, except after C."