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Family Vocabulary

Your family members are also called your relatives. You have an immediate or nuclear family and an extended family. Your immediate family includes your father, mother and siblings. Your extended family includes all of the people in your father and mother's families.

Your sibling is your brother or sister. If you have 1 brother and 2 sisters, then you have 3 siblings. Your parent is your father or mother. Your child is your son or daughter. Your spouse is your husband or wife.

You may also have a stepfamily. Your stepfamily includes people who became part of your family due to changes in family life. These changes may include death, divorce or separation. New partnerships create new children. The new children and their relatives become part of your blended family. Some people are born into a stepfamily.

Note that spouses and step-relatives are relatives by marriage. They are not blood relatives. Your father and mother are related by marriage. But your father and you are related by blood.
my relatives relationship to me I usually call
male female him... her...
parent relative of whom I am the child Father, Daddy, Dad, Papa Mother, Mummy, Mum, Mommy, Mom, Mama, Ma
father mother
sibling we have the same father and mother first name; sometimes Bro first name; sometimes Sis
brother sister
uncle aunt sibling of my parent Uncle [first name] Aunt/Auntie [first name]
grandparent parent of my parent Grandfather, Grandpa Grandmother, Grandma
grand-father grand-mother
cousin child of my uncle or aunt first name
spouse relative to whom I am married first name
husband wife
child relative of whom I am the parent first name
son daughter
nephew niece child of my sibling first name
grandchild child of my child first name
grandson grand-daughter
great grand-father great grand-mother parent of my grandparent Great Grandpa Great Grandma
father-in-law mother in-law parent of my spouse first name; Dad first name; Mum, Mom
brother-in-law sister in-law sibling of my spouse; spouse of my sibling first name
son-in-law daughter-in-law spouse of my daughter/son first name
ex-husband ex-wife my previous spouse (we divorced) first name
half-brother half-sister my sibling born to my father or mother but not both first name
step-parent new spouse of one of my parents first name
step-father step-mother
step-child child of my spouse but not of me first name
step-son step-daughter
In a family, the word generation means all the people in one stage of the family. For example, your parents are one generation, you and your siblings are the next generation, and your children and their cousins are another generation.