uncle
nounEtymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwh₂os Latin avunculus Old French unclebor. Middle English uncle English uncle From Middle English uncle, borrowed from Anglo-Norman uncle and Old French oncle, from Vulgar Latin *aunclum, from Latin avunculus (“maternal uncle”, literally “little grandfather”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂euh₂-n-tlo- (“little grandfather”), a dialectal diminutive of *h₂éwh₂ō (“grandfather, adult male relative other than one’s father”) (whence also Latin avus (“grandfather”)). Displaced native Middle English em (“uncle”) from Old English ēam (“maternal uncle”), containing the same Proto-Indo-European root, and Old English fædera (“paternal uncle”). Compare Saterland Frisian Unkel (“uncle”), Dutch nonkel (“uncle”), German Low German Unkel (“uncle”), German Onkel (“uncle”), Danish onkel (“uncle”). More at eam and eame.
Definitions
The brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent.
The male cousin of one’s parent.
Used as a fictive kinship title for a close male friend of one's parent or parents.
›+ 10 more definitionsshow fewer
Used as a title for the male companion to one's (usually unmarried) parent.
A source of advice, encouragement, or help.
A pawnbroker.
An affectionate term for a man of an older generation than oneself, especially a friend…
An affectionate term for a man of an older generation than oneself, especially a friend of one's parents, by means of fictive kin.
An older African-American male.
- Plain old uncle as he [Socrates] was, with his great ears, — an immense talker.
Any middle-aged or elderly man older than the speaker and/or listener.
A cry used to indicate surrender.
To address somebody by the term uncle.
To act like, or as, an uncle.
- Betelgeuse Five, where he both fathered and uncled Ford
radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter U.
The neighborhood
- synonymeam
- synonymeme
- synonymnuncle
- synonymuncley
- synonymunclie
- synonymuncly
- antonymauntantonym(s) of “with regard to gender”
- antonymnieceantonym(s) of “with regard to ancestry”
- antonymnephewantonym(s) of “with regard to ancestry”
- antonymboyantonym(s) of “African-American”
- antonymauntyantonym(s) of “India”
- neighboravuncular
- neighboruncular
- neighboravunculate
- neighboravunculicide
- neighboravunculism
- neighboravunculocal
- neighboraunclesibling of someone's parent
- neighborpibling
- neighborbruncle
- neighborco-uncle
- neighborcousin-uncle
- neighbordouble uncle
Derived
agony uncle, auncle, Bob is your uncle, Bob's your uncle, Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt, bruncle, co-uncle, cousin-uncle, cry ~, holler ~, double uncle, Dutch uncle, everybody and his uncle, everybody and their uncle, everyone and his uncle, everyone and their uncle, funcle, granduncle, great-granduncle, great-uncle, guncle, half-uncle, if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle, if my uncle had tits, he'd be my aunt, I'll be a monkey's uncle, maternal half-uncle, maternal uncle, my sainted uncle, nuncle, paternal half-uncle, paternal uncle, Robert is your uncle, Robert's your uncle, second uncle, step-uncle, taxi uncle, unc, unclecide, uncledom, Uncle Festerman · +21 more
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for uncle. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA