Uncle

How to spell uncle

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce uncle

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does uncle mean?

1. nounThe brother of one's father or mother, or the husband of one's aunt.

Uncle in a sentence

• My uncle taught me how to drive on the back roads.

• Every summer the whole family gathers at my uncle and aunt's cottage.

Where does uncle come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin avunculus, which literally meant 'little grandfather' or, more practically, a mother's brother, formed as a diminutive of avus 'grandfather'. As Latin developed into the Romance languages the word softened and shortened, and Old French carried it as oncle. English borrowed it in the 1200s, gradually pushing aside the older native Old English term eam, which had specifically meant a maternal uncle. Over time the meaning broadened to cover the brother of either parent, as well as the husband of an aunt. The silent reshaping from avunculus to the tidy two-syllable uncle is why the modern spelling looks so simple, though the formal adjective 'avuncular' (meaning kindly in the way of an uncle) preserves the fuller Latin root.

How the word is built

• uncle (from Latin avunculus: mother's brother), reduced through French to the single root word; no separable prefix or suffix in modern English