sibling
sib·ling/ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/noun
sibling is spelled S-I-B-L-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables (sib·ling). It appears 4.1 times per million words in written English, the 12,764th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sibling means “A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sibling is siblings.
How many letters and syllables are in sibling?
| Letters | 7: S-I-B-L-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: sib·ling |
| In writing | 4.1 times per million words; the 12,764th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is sibling?
Sibling appears 4.1 times per million words in written English, the 12,764th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sibling?
- /ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/
- /ˈsɪb.lin/
Sibling has 2 syllables, split sib·ling in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sibling.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sibling
- siblings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sibling mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with.
None of my siblings are married yet.
- 2
A node in a data structure that shares its parent with another node.
- 3
The most closely related species, or one of several most closely related species when none can be determined to be more closely related.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sibling in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense person who shares same parents – see also brother, sister:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | frère et sœur, adelphe, fratrie, germain, sibling, frères et sœurs |
| German | Geschwisterchen, Geschwisterkind, Bruder, Schwester, Geschwister |
| Portuguese | irmão, irmã |
| Spanish | hermano, hermana |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sibling come from?
First use appears c. 1903, a modern revival of Old English sibling (“relative, a relation, kinsman”), equivalent to sib + -ling. Compare Middle English siblynges pl, sib, sibbe (“relative; kinsman”), German Sippe. The term apparently meant merely kin or relative until the 20th century when it was applied in a way that aided the study of genetics, which led to its specialized use. For example, the OED has a citation in 1902 in which sibling must be defined for those who do not know the intended meaning.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).