niece
UK /niːs/ · US /nis/ noun, proper noun
Forms nieces
- noun A daughter of one’s sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either the daughter of one's brother ("fraternal niece"), or of one's sister ("sororal niece"). “My niece just celebrated her 15th birthday.”
- noun A daughter of one’s cousin or cousin-in-law
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English nece (“niece, granddaughter”), from Old French nece (“niece, granddaughter”) (Modern French nièce (“niece”)) from Late Latin neptia, representing Latin neptis (“granddaughter”), from Proto-Indo-European *néptih₂ (“granddaughter, niece”). Doublet of nift.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A relative, in general; especially, a descendant, whether male or female; a granddaughter or a grandson. [Obs.] B. Jonson. Wyclif.
- noun A daughter of one's brother or sister, or of one's brother-in-law or sister-in-law.
Etymology [OE. nece, F. nièce, LL. neptia, for L. neptis a granddaughter, niece, akin to nepos. See Nephew.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “niece”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details