niece

B1 Topic:Family & Relationships

US /nis/ UK /niːs/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like niche /s/ vs /ʃ/

Freq #4240

Meanings

1

noun
The daughter of your brother or sister.

My niece just celebrated her fifteenth birthday.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

nift

Opposites

aunt nephew uncle

Word family

Forms nieces

Derived forms grandniecegreat-nieceniece-in-lawniecelessniecelynieceshipnieflingstep-niecestepniece

Related forms brother cousin dad grandfather grandmother mom sister step-

Simplified etymology

Niece entered English in the Middle English period and ultimately comes from Latin neptis, the feminine counterpart of nepos, “nephew” or “grandson.” It is therefore historically related to nephew.

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.

nece Middle English neptia la-lat neptis Latin *néptih₂ Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Family & Relationships

External links

# niece

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /nis/
**IPA (UK):** /niːs/
**Frequency rank:** 4240

## Meanings
1. The daughter of your brother or sister.

## Examples
- My niece just celebrated her fifteenth birthday.

## Synonyms
- nift

## Antonyms
- aunt
- nephew
- uncle

## Derived Forms
- grandniece
- great-niece
- niece-in-law
- nieceless
- niecely
- nieceship
- niefling
- step-niece
- stepniece

## Related Forms
- brother
- cousin
- dad
- grandfather
- grandmother
- mom
- sister
- step-

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: nece
- Root: neptia
- Root: neptis
- Root: *néptih₂

## 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.

## AI Etymology
Niece comes 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. Modern senses include the daughter of your brother or sister. The wider word family includes derivatives such as grandniece, great-niece, niece-in-law, nieceless, niecely, and nieceship and related forms such as brother, cousin, dad, and grandfather.

## Topics
- Family & Relationships

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