#pibling

I started with the inverse of the “nibling” (gender-neutral alternative to niece/nephew) relationship and wondered if there was a word for it. I found “pibling” (short for “parent sibling”).

Sure, it works, but I find it weird that a relationship to a (usually) older relative sounds so diminutive. But then I was thinking about how “great aunt/uncle” is used (I know some people say “grand aunt/uncle”, but I don’t), skipping over grand (e.g. great grandparent). Which means aunt/uncle basically get the “grand” included.

Well, what are they the “grand” version of? Well, “sibling”. So aunt basically means “grandsister” and uncle “grandbrother”. So a pibling could be called a grandsibling, making your great aunt also your great grandsibling.

But now we have a new problem, which is that if we extend nibling the same way, like how your child’s child’s child is your great grandchild, your nibling’s child is your great grandnibling, now the number of greats is off by one.

For example, your sibling’s child’s child is your grandnibling, but you are their parent’s parent’s sibling, making you their great grandnibling.

That makes me wish that there were a way to modify sibling directly to go down a generation rather than needing a separate word for a sibling plus a generation down the tree.

Well, what’s the opposite of grand? Terrible? That doesn’t seem like a good idea. Grand can also mean very big, so how about tiny? Maybe it also sounds potentially rude, but consider this: great and grand both mean similar things and start with the same letter. What can we prefix tiny with for a similar effect? Let me introduce: “teeny tiny”.

So instead of your grandparent calling you their grandchild, they call you their tinychild. And your children? Their teeny tinychildren. And their children? Of course that’s their teeny teeny tinychildren.

So it might be dumb, but it’s also hilarious and very cute.

So that bring’s us back to the nibling/pibling relationship from the start. Now nibling becomes tinysibling, and pibling becomes grandsibling. And your great aunt is now your great grandsibling, and you are her teeny tinysibling.