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uncle

Pronunciation: /ˈʌŋ.kl̩/

The English word “uncle” has 12 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. The brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent.
  2. The male cousin of one’s parent.
  3. Used as a fictive kinship title for a close male friend of one's parent or parents.
  4. Used as a title for the male companion to one's (usually unmarried) parent.
  5. A source of advice, encouragement, or help.
  6. A pawnbroker.
  7. An affectionate term for a man of an older generation than oneself, especially a friend of one's parents, by means of fictive kin.
  8. An older African-American male.
  9. Any middle-aged or elderly man older than the speaker and/or listener.

interjection

  1. A cry used to indicate surrender.

verb

  1. To address somebody by the term uncle.
  2. To act like, or as, an uncle.

Etymology

From Middle English uncle, borrowed from Anglo-Norman uncle and Old French oncle, from Vulgar Latin *aunclum, from Latin avunculus (“maternal uncle”, literally “little grandfather”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂euh₂-n-tlo- (“little grandfather”), a dialectal diminutive of *h₂éwh₂ō (“grandfather, adult male relative other than one’s father”) (whence also Latin avus (“grandfather”)). Displaced…

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