uncle
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: ŭngʹkəl
ipa: /ˈʌŋ.kl̩/
rhymes: -ʌŋkəl
Forms: form: uncles
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwh₂os
Latin avunculus
Old French unclebor.
Middle English uncle
English uncle
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”). Compare Saterland Frisian Unkel (“uncle”), Dutch nonkel (“uncle”), German Low German Unkel (“uncle”), German Onkel (“uncle”), Danish onkel (“uncle”). More at eam and eame.
Senses: examples: text: And it was while all were passionately intent upon the pleasing and snake-like progress of their uncle that a young girl in furs, ascending the stairs two at a time, peeped perfunctorily into the nursery as she passed the hallway—and halted amazed.
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 14:
glosses: The brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent.
glosses: The male cousin of one’s parent.
glosses: Used as a fictive kinship title for a close male friend of one's parent or parents.
glosses: Used as a title for the male companion to one's (usually unmarried) parent.
glosses: A source of advice, encouragement, or help.
examples: December 1843, William Makepeace Thackeray, "Grant in Paris" (review), in Fraser's Magazine
A chain hangs out of the pocket of his velvet waistcoat , by which we may conclude that he has a watch , though we have known many gents whose watches were at their uncle's (as the fashionable term for the pawnbroker goes)
glosses: A pawnbroker.
qualifier: parts of UK and South Asia
glosses: An affectionate term for a man of an older generation than oneself, especially a friend of one's parents, by means of fictive kin.
raw_tags: in the Southern US
examples: text: Plain old uncle as he [Socrates] was, with his great ears, — an immense talker.
ref: 1850, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Representative Men:
glosses: An older African-American male.
glosses: Any middle-aged or elderly man older than the speaker and/or listener.
Synonyms: word: eam
word: eme
word: nuncle
sense: as a respectful term of address
word: uncleji
word: uncley
word: unclie
word: uncly
Hypernyms: sense: sibling of someone's parent
word: auncle
word: pibling
Hyponyms: sense: brother of someone’s father
word: paternal uncle
sense: brother of someone’s mother
word: maternal uncle
word: bruncle
word: co-uncle
word: cousin-uncle
word: double uncle
word: granduncle
word: great-granduncle
word: great-uncle
word: guncle
word: half-uncle
word: maternal half-uncle
word: paternal half-uncle
word: step-uncle
sense: uncle gained by marriage
word: uncle-in-law
Derived terms: agony uncle
auncle
Bob is your uncle
Bob's your uncle
Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt
bruncle
co-uncle
cousin-uncle
cry ~
holler ~
say uncle
double uncle
Dutch uncle
everybody and his uncle
everybody and their uncle
everyone and his uncle
everyone and their uncle
funcle
granduncle
great-granduncle
great-uncle
guncle
half-uncle
if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle
if my uncle had tits, he'd be my aunt
I'll be a monkey's uncle
maternal half-uncle
maternal uncle
my sainted uncle
nuncle
paternal half-uncle
paternal uncle
Robert is your uncle
Robert's your uncle
second uncle
step-uncle
taxi uncle
unclecide
uncledom
unclefucker
unclehood
uncle-in-law
Uncle Joe
uncleless
unclely
Uncle Ned
uncle or aunt
Uncle Sam
Uncle Scrooge
uncleship
Uncle Shmuel
Uncle Sugar
Uncle Tom
Uncle Tomahawk
Uncle Whiskers
uncley
unclie
uncly
unclish
Related terms: avuncular
uncular
avunculate
avunculicide
avunculism
avunculocal