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

You are doing a square dance with your children and the two-step with Uncle Sam.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 19, 2026

His Uncle Frank telling jokes from behind the bar in one of these taverns first piqued Dreesen’s interest in comedy.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 18, 2026

Winstanley said his favourite Wigan delicacy was an old-fashioned meat and potato pie, "rounded off with an Uncle Joe's Mint Ball".

From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026

Uncle Sam earned more than the fund’s investors.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026

And I told him about Papi, about Uncle Manfred and Aunt Lotti, and all the good times we had had down on the farm, and about the argument that had split the family.

From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo

Related Words

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