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Added 9 October 2026

uncle

/ˈʌŋ.kl̩/ noun

In Latin: patruus, avunculus, thius Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about uncle at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The brother of your father or mother; the husband of your aunt.
A source of help and advice and encouragement.
he played uncle to lonely students

Origin

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”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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