sibling
- 01 B1 Intermediate
a person who has the same parents as you; your brother or sister.
one of two or more individuals having one or both parents in common; a gender-neutral collective term for brothers and sisters.
Simple“I have three siblings: two older brothers and a younger sister.”
In context“Research suggests that sibling relationships play a crucial role in the development of social skills during early childhood.”
UsageCommonly used in the plural to refer to a group of brothers and sisters together.
- 02 C1 Advanced
in a computer diagram or list, a part that is on the same level as another part under the same 'parent'.
a node in a data structure, such as a tree or graph, that shares the same immediate parent node as another.
Simple“In this folder structure, the 'Images' and 'Videos' folders are siblings.”
In context“The algorithm traverses the tree by visiting each sibling at the current depth before descending to the next level of the hierarchy.”
- 03 C2 Proficiency
a species that is very closely related to another species.
one of two or more closely related species which are nearly indistinguishable morphologically but are reproductively isolated.
Simple“These two types of birds are sibling species and look almost identical.”
In context“The identification of sibling species often requires genetic analysis, as physical characteristics may be insufficient to differentiate them in the field.”
“It can also take place indoors, through rough-and-tumble play such as wrestling with siblings or indoor rock climbing at the local gym.”
“Cat and her siblings said they had no wish for their father to die behind bars, but they wanted him to admit what he did.”
First use appears c. 1903, a modern revival of Old English sibling (“relative, a relation, kinsman”), equivalent to sib + -ling. Compare Middle English siblynges pl, sib, sibbe (“relative; kinsman”), German Sippe. The term apparently meant merely kin or relative until the 20th century when it was applied in a way that aided the study of genetics, which led to its specialized use. For example, the OED has a citation in 1902 in which sibling must be defined for those who do not know the intended meaning.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.