sibling
- a brother or sister.
- Anthropology. a comember of a sib, a unilateral descent group thought to share kinship through a common ancestor.
- of or relating to a brother or sister: sibling rivalry.
Origin of sibling
Examples from the Web for sibling
Contemporary Examples
Their sibling rivalry drove a significant number of episodes.
Orange Is the New Weeds: The Adventures of Jenji Kohan Across the 8th DimensionRich Goldstein, Emily Shire
August 18, 2014
OITNB has so far neglected to grace Alex with a sibling, but Piper has a brother who has figured prominently.
Orange Is the New Weeds: The Adventures of Jenji Kohan Across the 8th DimensionRich Goldstein, Emily Shire
August 18, 2014
Had it been a one-two result, could you imagine the sibling rivalry?
Motes is not the first sibling of a superstar to struggle and do so publicly.
Dr. Gardere suggested that if a sibling has the financial means, he or she should help a family member in need.
Historical Examples
The extended family groupings in terms of matrilocal residence or centered around a sibling group are amorphous but flexible.
Shoshone-Bannock Subsistence and SocietyRobert F. Murphy
We saw on our left the large monastery of Delaling, and, a little way off, the Gomba of Sibling.
An Explorer's Adventures in TibetA. Henry Savage Landor
sibling
- a person's brother or sister
- (as modifier)sibling rivalry
- any fellow member of a sib
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for sibling
n.
"brother or sister," 1903, modern revival (in anthropology) of Old English sibling "relative, kinsman," from sibb "kinship, relationship; love, friendship, peace, happiness," from Proto-Germanic *sibja- "blood relation, relative," properly "one's own" (cf. Old Saxon sibba, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch sibbe, Old High German sippa, German Sippe, Gothic sibja "kin, kindred"), from PIE s(w)e-bh(o)- (cf. Old Church Slavonic sobistvo, Russian sob "character, individuality"), an enlargement of the root *swe- "self" (see idiom). Related to the second element in gossip.
The word 'sib' or 'sibling' is coming into use in genetics in the English-speaking world, as an equivalent of the convenient German term 'Geschwister' [E.&C. Paul, "Human Heredity," 1930]
In Old English, sibb and its compounds covered grounds of "brotherly love, familial affection" which tended later to lump into love (n.), e.g. sibsumnes "peace, concord, brotherly love," sibbian (v.) "bring together, reconcile," sibbecoss "kiss of peace." Sibship, however, is a modern formation (1908). Sib persisted through Middle English as a noun, adjective, and verb expressing kinship and relationship.
sibling
(sĭb′lĭng)- One of two or more individuals having one or both parents in common; a brother or sister.