uncle

Meanings

Noun

• The brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent.
• The male cousin of one’s parent.
• A companion to one's (usually unmarried) mother.
• A source of advice, encouragement, or help.
• A pawnbroker.
• a man of an older generation than oneself, especially a friend of one's parents, by means of fictive kin.
• An older African-American male.
• Any middle-aged or elderly man older than the speaker and/or listener.

Interjection

• A cry used to indicate surrender.

Verb

• To address somebody by the term uncle.
• To act like, or as, an uncle.

Related

Similar words

• eam, eme
• nuncle
• uncleji
• uncley, unclie, uncly

Opposite words

• aunt
• niece, nephew
• boy
• aunty

Narrower meaning words

• en
• bruncle
• co-uncle
• cousin-uncle
• double uncle
• granduncle, great-granduncle, great-uncle
• guncle
• half-uncle, maternal half-uncle, paternal half-uncle
• step-uncle

Broader meaning words

• auncle, pibling

Origin

• From Middle English uncle, borrowed from Anglo-Norman uncle and Old French oncle, from Vulgar Latin, from Latin avunculus ("mother’s brother"), from Proto-Indo-European, a dialectal diminutive of *h₂éwh₂os (whence also avus). Displaced native Middle English eam, eme from Old English ēam, containing the same Proto-Indo-European root, and Old English fædera. Compare Saterland Frisian Unkel ("uncle"), Dutch nonkel ("uncle"), German Low German Unkel ("uncle"), German Onkel ("uncle"), Danish onkel ("uncle"). More at eam and eame.