Added 9 October 2026
sister
/ˈsɪs.tə(ɹ)/ noun
In Latin: soror, germana Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about sister at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
A daughter of the same parents as another person; a female sibling.
My sister is always driving me crazy.
-
A female member of a religious order; especially one devoted to more active service; a nun.
Michelle left behind her bank job and became a sister at the local convent.
- Any butterfly in the genus Adelpha, so named for the resemblance of the dark-colored wings to the black habit traditionally worn by nuns.
verb
Origin
Inherited from Middle English suster, from Old English sweostor, from Proto-West Germanic *swester, from Proto-Germanic *swestēr, from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr. Doublet of soror. Cognate with Scots sister, syster (“sister”), West Frisian sus, suster (“sister”), Dutch zuster (“sister”), German Schwester (“sister”), Norwegian Bokmål søster (“sister”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish syster (“sister”), Icelandic systir (“sister”), Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌰𐍂 (swistar, “sister”), Latin soror (“sister”), Russian сестра́ (sestrá, “sister”), Lithuanian sesuo (“sister”), Albanian vajzë (“girl, maiden”), Sanskrit स्वसृ (svásṛ, “sister”), Persian خواهر (xâhar, “sister”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)