sibling
Syllables: sib·ling/ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/
sibling noun: a person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with.
Noun
sibling (plural siblings)
- A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with.
- None of my siblings are married yet.
- She also had one sibling, her younger brother Joshua, who was born a year after her.2026 July 29, Nicholas Muhoro, “Amy Billig Vanished While Hitchhiking Through Coconut Grove. Then the Calls Began”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 31 Jul 2026
- A node in a data structure that shares its parent with another node.
- The most closely related species, or one of several most closely related species when none can be determined to be more closely related.
- D. simulans, D. mauritiana and D. sechellia (which we will call “the siblings” when we do not need to distinguish among them) have homosequential polytene chromosome banding patterns differing from those of D. melanogaster by one long inversion on chromosome arm 3R and a few much smaller inversions.1990 April 1, P. Hutter et al., “A genetic basis for the inviability of hybrids between sibling species of Drosophila”, in Genetics, volume 124, number 4, pages 909–920
- Bush suggested that this difference might represent a case of chromosomal polymorphism or, more likely, sibling species.2015 November 26, Lucie Vaníčková et al., “Current knowledge of the species complex Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera, Tephritidae) in Brazil”, in ZooKeys, volume 540, →DOI, pages 211–237
sibling meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sibling in Hindi
- person who shares same parents — see also brother, sister
- सहोदर sahodar
sibling in Tamil
- சகோதரன் அல்லது சகோதரி, உடன் பிறந்தவர்
sibling in Marathi
- sibling
- सहोदर sahodar
sibling in Urdu
- person who shares same parents — see also brother, sister
- سہودر sahodar
More languagesFewer languages
- sibling in Bengali
- সহোদর śohōdor
- sibling in Telugu
- తోబుట్టువు tōbuṭṭuvu
- sibling in Malayalam
- സഹോദരർ sahōdaraṟ
- sibling in Kannada
- ಸಹೋದರ, ಸಹೋದರಿ, ಒಡಹುಟ್ಟಿದವನು, ಒಡಹುಟ್ಟಿದವಳು
- sibling in Sanskrit
- सहोदर sahodara
- sibling in Tagalog
- kapatid, kaka
- sibling in Arabic
- شَقِيق šaqīq, شَقِيقَة šaqīqa
- sibling in Malay
- abang, kakak, adik
- sibling in Indonesian
- kakak, adik, saudara
- sibling in Persian
- همنیا ham-niâ, همشیره hamšire
- sibling in Thai
- พี่ pîi, น้อง nɔ́ɔng, พี่น้อง pîi-nɔ́ɔng
- sibling in Vietnamese
- anh chị em
- sibling in Myanmar
- မောင်နှမ maunghna.ma.
Examples of sibling in a sentence
- Poorer children often have to wear whatever an older sibling has outgrown.
- Only the solidarity provided by her siblings allowed Margaret to cope with her mother's harrowing death.
- My number one aim in life is to make money to make my parents, siblings, and kids happy.
Forms of sibling
| plural | siblings |
|---|
Origin of sibling
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.
Words formed from sibling
- biosibling
- dibling
- intersibling
- multisibling
- nephling
- nibling
- niefling
- nonsibling
- pibling
- pseudosibling
- sibcest
- siblicide
- siblinged
- siblinghood
- siblingless
- siblinglike
- siblingly
- siblingship
- adoptive sibling
- blood sibling
- co-sibling
- cross-sibling
- foster sibling
- full-sibling
- god-sibling
- half-sibling
- halfsibling
- little sibling
- milk sibling
- my sibling in Christ
- saviour sibling
- sibling fucker
- sibling-in-law
- sibling rivalry
- sibling species
- stepsibling
- three-quarter sibling
- 3/4 sibling
Phrases with sibling
Words that rhyme with sibling
Questions about sibling
- What does sibling mean?
- Sibling means a person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with.
- What is sibling in Hindi?
- Sibling in Hindi is सहोदर (sahodar). See Sibling meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is sibling?
- Sibling is a noun.
- How do you pronounce sibling?
- Sibling is pronounced /ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/.
- What is the plural of sibling?
- The plural of sibling is siblings.
Words near sibling in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sibling (page history and authors); sibling (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); सहोदर (Marathi) (page history and authors); sibling (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); सहोदर (Sanskrit) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sibling.wav.
Cite this entry: “sibling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sibling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.