# cousin

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkʌzn̩/ · frequency rank #3,550

## Definitions
1. Chiefly with a qualifying word: Any relation (especially a distant one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person's extended family; a kinsman or kinswoman.
2. Chiefly with a qualifying word: Any relation (especially a distant one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person's extended family; a kinsman or kinswoman.
3. Chiefly with a qualifying word: Any relation (especially a distant one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person's extended family; a kinsman or kinswoman.
4. A person of an ethnicity or nationality regarded as closely related to someone of another ethnicity or nationality.
5. Used as a term of address for someone whom one is close to; also, (preceding a first name, sometimes capitalized as Cousin) a title for such a person.
6. Used by a monarch to address another monarch, or a noble; specifically (British) in commissions and writs by the Crown: used in this way to address a viscount or another peer of higher rank.
7. Something kindred or related to something else; a relative.
8. A female sexual partner who is not a person's wife; specifically, a prostitute.
9. A person who is swindled; a dupe.
10. A person who womanizes; a seducer, a womanizer.

## Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English cosin, cosine, cosyn (“blood relative, kinsman or kinswoman; any relative; nephew or niece; first cousin; grandson or granddaughter; descendant; godchild or godparent, or a relative of a godchild or godparent; (figurative) closely related or similar thing”) [and other forms], and then:
* from Anglo-Norman cosen, cosin [and other forms], Middle French cosin, and Old French cosin (“collateral male relative more distant than one’s brother; form of address used by a monarch to male monarchs or nobles”) [and other forms] (modern French cousin); and
* from Anglo-Norman cosine, Middle French cosine, and Old French cosine (“collateral female relative more distant than one’s sister; form of address used by a monarch to female monarchs or nobles”) [and other forms] (modern French cousine),
from Latin cōnsobrīnus (“maternal cousin; first cousin; relation”) (possibly through Vulgar Latin *cōsuīnus, from *cōsobīnus), from con- (prefix denoting a bringing together of several objects) + sobrīnus (“maternal cousin; sister’s son; any nephew”) (from a noun use of Proto-Italic *swezrīnos (“of or belonging to a sister”, adjective) (with the first syllable influenced by Latin soror (“sister”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr (“sister”), possibly from *swé (“self”) + *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”) (that is, a woman of one’s own blood) or *-sōr (feminine suffix)).
The verb is derived from the noun.

## Easily confused with
- **cumin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cousin-vs-cumin)
- **cousins** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cousin-vs-cousins)
- **coin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coin-vs-cousin)
- **Colin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colin-vs-cousin)
- **coupon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coupon-vs-cousin)
- **coffin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coffin-vs-cousin)
- **Corbin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/corbin-vs-cousin)
- **Collin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/collin-vs-cousin)
- **Cobain** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cobain-vs-cousin)
- **Cochin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cochin-vs-cousin)
- **Colson** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/colson-vs-cousin)
- **causing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/causing-vs-cousin)
- **Coulson** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coulson-vs-cousin)
- **coursing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coursing-vs-cousin)

## Common misspellings (8)
`ccousin`, `cosuin`, `couisn`, `cousinn`, `cousni`, `coussin`, `cuosin`, `ocusin`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cousin