Your family relations
Blood relatives - The family tree defines people in terms of their relationships with one another and particularly with you, the researcher. Most of the words used in family trees are familiar ones, used every day, such as father, mother or brother, sister, son or daughter. The term uncle or aunt is often used to describe someone who is not related by blood or marriage.
The following glossary lists these to help you to describe the relationships between family members who are related through blood (as opposed to marriage).
uncle = the brother of your father or mother
aunt = the sister of your father or mother
sibling = your brother or sister
cousin = the son or daughter of your uncle or aunt
second cousin = the son or daughter of either parent's first cousin
nephew = the son of your brother or sister
niece = the daughter of your brother or sister
grandfather = the father of your father or mother
grandmother = the mother of your father or mother
grandson = your child's son; granddaughter your child's daughter
great grandfather = the father of one of your grandparents
great grandmother = the mother of one of your grandparents
great uncle = the uncle of one of your parents
great aunt = the aunt of one of your parents
Related by marriage - There are also terms that describe the people to whom you become related when you marry (through your spouse). Although they share no blood ties, they become part of your family tree. Then there are a few specialist terms, used to denote the relationships created by subsequent marriages.
father-in-law = the father of your spouse
mother-in-law = the mother of your spouse
stepson = the son of your spouse's former marriage
stepdaughter = the daughter of your spouse's former marriage
stepmother = your father's second (or subsequent) wife
stepfather = your mother's second (or subsequent) husband
half-brother = the male offspring from the remarriage of one of your parents
half-sister = the female offspring from the remarriage of one of your parents
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