sib
/sɪb/
sib adjective: having kinship or relationship; related by same-bloodedness; kindred.
Adjective
sib (comparative sibber, superlative sibbest)
- Having kinship or relationship; related by same-bloodedness; kindred.
- […] they are sibber to you than ever Miss Innes was or will be; and if like to bid me, […]1871 [reprinted 2023], Ellen Ross, The Wreck of the White Bear: Vol. 1, page 207
- seeing that his Majesty is "sibber to him than all the brothers and sons he has in the world." So far, James Haig had played his part with consummate skill.1881, John Russell, The Haigs of Bemersyde: A Family History, page 144
- Akin (to); similar (to).
- […] we are so much the sibber to Christ that we suffer; […]1637 July 6, Letter CLIV to William Glendinning [from Samuel Rutherford in Aberdeen], published in 1821, Joshua Redivivus; Or, Three Hundred and Fifty Two Religious Letters ... To which is Prefixed a...
- 1701. June 19. Dewar of Lassody against Scott of Spencerfield's Factor and Creditors. […]; and that creditors seemed to be much sibber to these annualrents than the factors.1826, Scotland. Court of Session, Mungo Ponton Brown, Supplement to the Dictionary of the Decisions of the Court of Session, page 503
Noun (1)
sib (plural sibs)
- Kindred; kin; kinsmen; a body of persons related by blood in any degree.
- A kinsman; a blood relation; a relative, near or remote; one closely allied to another; an intimate companion.
- But she got up to go, and Domenico obeyed me too in mock meekness, making himself sib and coeval to Hortense, submissive to frowning elder brother, something incestuous in it.1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers
- A sibling, brother or sister (irrespective of gender)
- Any group of animals or plants sharing a corresponding genetic relation
- A group of individuals unilaterally descended from a single (real or postulated) common ancestor
Verb (1)
sib (third-person singular simple present sibs, present participle sibbing, simple past and past participle sibbed)
- To bring into relation; establish a relationship between; make friendly; reconcile.
Verb (2)
sib (third-person singular simple present sibs, present participle sibbing, simple past and past participle sibbed)
- To engage in repetitive behaviors such as eye-poking, skin-picking, hand-biting, or head-banging.
Proper noun capitalized: SIB
SIB
- Initialism of Special Investigation Branch.
Noun (2) capitalized: SIB
SIB (countable and uncountable, plural SIBs)
- Initialism of self-injurious behavior.
- A treatment consisting of differential reinforcement of compliance and a quiet-hands procedure (repeatedly guiding her to place her hands in her lap for 30 s) contingent on SIB was shown to be effective in reducing Candy’s SIB to low levels during vocational training sessions.1999, “DECREASING SIGNS OF NEGATIVE AFFECT AND CORRELATED SELF-INJURY IN AN INDIVIDUAL WITH MENTAL RETARDATION AND MOOD DISTURBANCES”, in Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis
- Abbreviation of sodium-ion battery.
- Synonyms:
- NIB
Examples of sib in a sentence
- "You talk about the crook in our Campbell tongue in one breath," said he, "and in the next you would make yourself a Campbell more sib to the chief than I am myself.1898, Neil Munro, John Splendid: The Tale of a Poor Gentleman and the Little Wars of Lorn, Copp, Clark, page 126:
- I like my cousins in Holland immensely, but I feel more sib to the Northerners.1906, Oliver Elton, Frederick York Powell: A Life and a Selection from His Letters and Occasional Writings, page 249:
Synonyms of sib
Forms of sib
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | sibber |
| superlative | sibbest |
| Noun | |
| plural | sibs |
| plural | SIBs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | sibs |
| present participle | sibbing |
| past participle | sibbed |
| past | sibbed |
Origin of sib
From Middle English sib, from Old English sibb (“related, akin, sib”), from Proto-Germanic *sibjaz (“related”), from Proto-Indo-European *sebʰ-, *swebʰ- (“one's own”). Cognate with West Frisian besibbe (“related”), Middle Dutch sibbe (“related”), Middle Low German sibbe (“related”), Middle High German sippe (“related”), Icelandic sifi (“related”).
From Middle English sib, sibbe, from Old English sibb (“relationship; gossip; friendliness, kindness; love, friendship, peace, concord, unity, tranquility; peace of mind; a relative, kinsman, kinswoman”), from Proto-West Germanic *sibbju, from Proto-Germanic *sibjō (“kinship”), from Proto-Indo-European *sebʰ-, *swebʰ- (“one's own”). Cognate with West Frisian sibbe (“relative, family member”), Dutch sibbe (“sib”), German Sippe (“tribe, clan”), Icelandic sifjar (“in-laws”), Latin suus (“one's own”).
From Middle English *sibben, *sibbien, from Old English sibbian (“to make peace; rejoice”), from Proto-Germanic *sibjōną (“to reconcile”), Proto-Indo-European *sebʰ-, *swebʰ- (“one's own”). Cognate with German sippen (“to be in relationship with, become related to”).
Words formed from sib
Phrases with sib
Words that rhyme with sib
Questions about sib
- What does sib mean?
- Sib means having kinship or relationship; related by same-bloodedness; kindred.
- How do you use sib in a sentence?
- "You talk about the crook in our Campbell tongue in one breath," said he, "and in the next you would make yourself a Campbell more sib to the chief than I am myself.
- What part of speech is sib?
- Sib can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce sib?
- Sib is pronounced /sɪb/.
Words near sib in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sib (page history and authors); SIB (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sib.wav.
Cite this entry: “sib.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sib. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.