Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[worksmart]

In English, what do you call your cousin's children, nephew and niece still?

And what do you call your your parents' cousin's children. Are they your cousins?

Thanks!

[Anuradha Chepur]

Your answers are in your questions. You are right.

If you want to be more specific, you may use ordinals before the word cousins. Children of your parents' siblings are your first cousins. Children of your parents' first cousins are your second cousins. Children of your parents' second cousins are your third cousins, and so on.

There is another concept called "straight cousin" and "cross cousins" atleast in some cultures. Children of your father's brother are your straight cousins, whereas children of your father's sister are your cross cousins. Similarly, mother's sister's children are straight cousins, while mother's brother's children are cross cousins. In some Indian cultures, people can marry their cross cousins but not straight cousins, because they consider straight cousins as brothers and sisters. In some other Indian cultures, one can marry both straight as well as cross cousins.

[worksmart]

Thanks for answering my questions while introducing me to the Indian culture.

So...say if this cousin is my dad's older brother's second son...can I call him my second cousin? or no?

And, if I have four younger sisters...how do I call them so people will know who is older....for example, the oldest of my younger sister is?

[Anuradha Chepur]

No, your Dad's elder brother's sons are all your first cousins.

You can use ordinal numbers: My first sister is doing her masters, my second sister is working for Microsoft, etc.