# nephew

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈnɛf.ju/ · frequency rank #7,034

## Definitions
1. A son of one's sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either a son of one's brother (fraternal nephew) or a son of one's sister (sororal nephew).
2. A son of one's cousin or cousin-in-law
3. A son of one's child.

## Etymology
From Middle English nevew, neveu (“nephew, grandson”), from Old French neveu, from Latin nepos, nepōtem, from Proto-Italic *nepōts (“nephew, grandson”), whence also French neveu, Italian nipote. Displaced or absorbed the inherited English neve (“nephew, grandson, male cousin”), from Middle English neve, from Old English nefa, from Proto-West Germanic *nefō, from Proto-Germanic *nefô (“nephew, grandson”), whence Dutch neef, German Neffe. All ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *népōts (“grandchild, sister's son”). Cognate with Serbo-Croatian nećak, Irish nia, Persian نوه (nave).
Spelt with -ph- by readaptation to Latin nepos since the 15th century, which later triggered the spelling pronunciation with /f/.

## Easily confused with
- **nether** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nephew-vs-nether)

## Common misspellings (9)
`enphew`, `nehpew`, `nepehw`, `nepheww`, `nephhew`, `nephwe`, `nepphew`, `nnephew`, `npehew`

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