sister

[sis-ter]

noun

1. a female offspring having both parents in common with another offspring; female sibling.

2. Also called half sister. a female offspring having only one parent in common with another offspring.

3. stepsister.

4. a female friend or protector regarded as a sister.

5. a thing regarded as feminine and associated as if by kinship with something else.

   The ships are sisters.

6. a female fellow member, as of a church.

7. a female member of a religious community that observes the simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

8. British.,  a nurse in charge of a hospital ward; head nurse.

9. Informal.,  a term used to refer to or address a fellow Black woman; soul sister.

10. a woman who supports, promotes, or participates in feminism.

11. Informal.,  a form of address used to a woman or girl, especially jocularly or contemptuously.

    Listen, sister, you've had enough.

adjective

1. being or considered a sister; related by or as if by sisterhood.

   sister ships.

2. having a close relationship with another because of shared interests, problems, or the like.

   We correspond with school children in our sister city.

3. Biochemistry.,  being one of an identical pair.

sister

/ ˈsɪstə /

noun

1. a female person having the same parents as another person

2. See half-sister stepsister

3. a female person who belongs to the same group, trade union, etc, as another or others

4. informal,  a form of address to a woman or girl, used esp by Black people in the US

5. a senior nurse

6. RC Church a nun or a title given to a nun

7. a woman fellow member of a Church or religious body

8. (modifier) belonging to the same class, fleet, etc, as another or others

   a sister ship

9. (modifier) biology denoting any of the cells or cell components formed by division of a parent cell or cell component

   sister nuclei

Other Word Forms

• sisterless adjective
• sisterlike adjective
• nonsister noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sister¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English (noun) from Old Norse systir; cognate with Old English sweoster, Dutch zuster, German Schwester, Gothic swistar; akin to Serbo-Croatian sèstra, Lithuanian sesuõ, Latin soror (from unattested swesor ), Old Irish siur, Welsh chwaer, Sanskrit svasar “sister,” Greek éor “daughter, niece”

Word History and Origins

Origin of sister¹

Old English sweostor; related to Old Norse systir, Old High German swester, Gothic swistar

Example Sentences

Suddenly I wasn't living with my mum and dad and my sister any more.

Read more on BBC

She had been aiming to compete at Milan-Cortina alongside her two sisters, Alli in mogul skiing and Sam in ski jumping.

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"We cannot find her at all. No one has notified us of anything," Yeung said, adding that her sister was also among those unaccounted for.

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By the late 1870s the two sisters were engulfed in financial and legal problems.

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Bones transformed classical singer Charlotte Church into her drag sister, named Blood, and the pair donned co-ordinated cream silk and lace outfits as part of a vampire wedding fantasy.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• relative 
• twin