sibling

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with.

   None of my siblings are married yet.

2. 2
   noun

   The most closely related species, or one of several most closely related species when none can be determined to be more closely related.

   D. simulans, D. mauritiana and D. sechellia (which we will call “the siblings” when we do not need to distinguish among them) have homosequential polytene chromosome banding patterns differing from those of D. melanogaster by one long inversion on chromosome arm 3R and a few much smaller inversions.

3. 3
   noun

   a person's brother or sister

4. 4
   noun

   A node in a data structure that shares its parent with another node.

Etymology

First use appears c. 1903, a modern revival of Old English sibling (“relative, a relation, kinsman”), equivalent to sib + -ling. Compare Middle English siblynges pl, sib, sibbe (“relative; kinsman”), German Sippe. The term apparently meant merely kin or relative until the 20th century when it was applied in a way that aided the study of genetics, which led to its specialized use. For example, the OED has a citation in 1902 in which sibling must be defined for those who do not know the intended meaning.