Meaning & use
niece
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Meanings
nouncountable
The daughter of your brother or sister, or of your husband's or wife's brother or sister.
Grammar: Countable and female only: my niece, my nieces.
Patterns
- someone's niece
- niece of someone
My niece starts school in September.
She bought her niece a bicycle for her birthday.
He is very close to his two nieces.
nouncountableinformal
A younger girl who is not a blood relative but is treated as one by a close family friend, informally.
Grammar: Informal and affectionate; often used in the form of address.
Patterns
- like a niece to someone
She has known him since childhood, and he treats her like a niece.
The neighbors call me their honorary niece.
Word forms
| plural | nieces |
|---|
Common combinations
- my niece
- My niece is learning to play the violin.
- favorite niece
- You are my favorite niece, as you know.
- nieces and nephews
- She has six nieces and nephews.
- great-niece
- Her great-niece visited for the holidays.
- niece by marriage
- She is my niece by marriage.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nephew
- Nephew is the male counterpart, whereas niece is always female.
- relative
- Relative is a broad family word, while niece names one exact relationship.
- kin
- Kin is a general, slightly old-fashioned term for family members, and does not name the relationship.
Opposites
Word family
- nephew noun
- the son of a brother or sister
- great-niece noun
- the granddaughter of your brother or sister
- grandniece noun
- another word for great-niece
Commonly confused: niece or nice? niece or niece/nephew?
niece vs nice
Nice means pleasant, and it is pronounced with a different final sound from niece.
niece vs niece/nephew
A niece is a girl, and a nephew is a boy.
Practice
My sister's daughter is my ___.
Choose one answer.
The daughter of your sibling is your niece. A nephew would be a son, and a cousin is the child of your aunt or uncle.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “niece”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.