Meaning of the word sister

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling.^[1] The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familial relationships.^[2] A full sister is a first-degree relative.

Overview[edit]

The English word sister comes from Old Norse systir which itself derives from Proto-Germanic *swestēr, both of which have the same meaning, i.e. sister. Some studies have found that sisters display more traits indicating jealousy around their siblings than their male counterparts, brothers.^[3] In some cultures, sisters are afforded a role of being under the protection by male siblings, especially older brothers, from issues ranging from bullies or sexual advances by womanizers.^[4] In some quarters, the term sister has gradually broadened its colloquial meaning to include individuals stipulating kinship.^[5] In response, in order to avoid equivocation, some publishers prefer the usage of female sibling over sister.^[6] Males with a twin sister sometimes view her as their female alter ego, or what they would have been like if they had two X chromosomes.^[7] A study in Perth, Australia found that girls having only youngers brothers resulted in a chastity effect: losing their virginity on average more than a year later than average. This has been hypothesized as being attributed to the pheromones in their brothers’ sweat and household-related errands.^[8]

Sororal relationships[edit]

Various studies have shown that older sisters are likely to give a varied gender role to their younger siblings, as well as being more likely to develop a close bond with their younger siblings.^[9] Older sisters are more likely to play with their younger siblings.^[10] Younger siblings display a more needy behavior when in close proximity to their older sister^[11] and are more likely to be tolerant of an older sister’s bad behavior.^[12] Boys with only an older sister are more likely to display stereotypically male behavior, and such masculine boys increased their masculine behavior with the more sisters they have.^[13] The reverse is true for young boys with several sisters, as they tend to be feminine, however, they outgrow this by the time they approach pubescence.^[14] Boys with older sisters were less likely to be delinquent or have emotional and behavioral disorders.^[15] A younger sister is less likely to be scolded by older siblings than a younger brother.^[16] The most common recreational activity between older brother/younger sister pairs is art drawing.^[9] Some studies also found a correlation between having an older sister and constructive discussions about safe sexual practices.^[17] Some studies have shown that men without sisters are more likely to be ineffectual at courtship and romantic relationships.^[18]

Fictional works about sisters[edit]

Films[edit]

• What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
• Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
• Hanging Up (2000)
• Frozen (2013)
• Little Women (2019)

Literature[edit]

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Laura Lee Hope’s Bobbsey Twins novels, which included two sets of fraternal twins: 12-year-old Nan and Bert, and six-year-old Flossie and Freddie
• In Her Shoes (2002), by Jennifer Weiner

Television[edit]

• Hope & Faith, American sitcom
• Sisters
• What I Like About You
• Sister, Sister

Games[edit]

• Jessica & Zofia Blazkowicz, Wolfenstein: Youngblood
• Mileena & Kitana, Mortal Kombat
• Kat and Ana, WarioWare

See also[edit]

• Brother
• Sisterhood (disambiguation)
• Religious sister

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• The dictionary definition of sister at Wiktionary

What do we mean by sister?

A female having the same parents as another or one parent in common with another. noun

A girl or woman who shares a common ancestry, allegiance, character, or purpose with another or others, specifically. noun

A kinswoman. noun

A woman fellow member, as of a sorority. noun

A fellow woman. noun

A close woman friend or companion. noun

A fellow African-American woman or girl. noun

A woman who advocates, fosters, or takes part in the feminist movement. noun

Used as a form of address for a woman or girl. noun

A member of a religious order of women; a nun. noun

Used as a form of address for such a woman, alone or followed by the woman’s name. noun

A nurse, especially the head nurse in a ward. noun

One identified as female and closely related to another. noun

Related by or as if by sisterhood; closely related. adjective

Of or being one of an identical, related, or homologous pair. adjective

A female person in her relation to other children born of the same parents; a female relative in the first degree of descent or mutual kinship; also, a female who has attained a corresponding relation to a family by marriage or adoption: correlative to brother; often used as a term of endearment. noun

Metaphorically, a woman of one’s own faith, church, or other religious community. noun

In the Roman Catholic and some other churches, a member of a religious community or order of women; a woman who devotes herself to religious work as a vocation: as, sisters of mercy. See sisterhood, 2. noun

That which is allied by resemblance or corresponds in some way to another or others, and is viewed as of feminine rather than masculine character. noun

A daughter of the same parents as another person; a female sibling.

A female member of a religious order; especially one devoted to more active service; (informally) a nun.

Any butterfly in the genus Adelpha, so named for the resemblance of the dark-colored wings to the black habit traditionally worn by nuns.

A senior or supervisory nurse, often in a hospital.

Any woman or girl with whom a bond is felt through common membership of a race, profession, religion or organization, such as feminism.

(sometimes capitalized) A black woman.

A form of address to a woman.

A woman, in certain labour or socialist circles; also as a form of address.

An entity that has a special or affectionate, non-hierarchical relationship with another.

A node in a data structure that shares its parent with another node.

(usually attributively) Something in the same class.

The greatest fucking Fran in your life. Someone who been wit you forever. You can call her and she’ll be there right fuckin away. The girl who constantly got your back. Urban Dictionary

Creations of satin designed to search and destroy the older sibling Urban Dictionary

A female with whom you share parents. Depending on the birth order she can be 1. your friend or 2. the BIGGEST BITCH EVER. Urban Dictionary

A strange alien species which is out to wreck male human life. Urban Dictionary

An anoying person that is related to you in some way and is out to ruin your life. Urban Dictionary

James Charles and his fans or everyone around are called “sisters” Urban Dictionary

Your sister is the girl that will always be there for you and may save you one day, wether you know it or not. your sister may or may not be related to you and could just be an amazing friend, but either way your sister is always slow to judge and quick to forgive. she will always love you, she might just hide it from you. Urban Dictionary

1. a female sibling
2. a female friend that acts like, loves you like, and treats you like a sibling. Urban Dictionary

There are two type of sisters, ones the good friend kind, she’ll always seem to be there somehow when you need help and it just seems like a good friendship instead of having a sibling. You and your sister would often ask each other for favours and sometimes pull a couple pranks on each other and can keep a secret, it might seem strange sometimes but at the same time natural.
The other kind is the very annoying type, she is most likely very annoying and would really embarrass you in front of your friends, unintentionally, and intentionally. often quite arrogant and takes every advantage to crush your social life and confidence. Urban Dictionary

A smart, beautiful sibling who always has good advice for her brothers, who are always acting like buffoons. Urban Dictionary

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English sister, suster, from Old English swustor, sweoster, sweostor (“sister, nun”); from Proto-Germanic *swestēr (“sister”), from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr (“sister”).

Cognate with Scots sister, syster (“sister”), West Frisian sus, suster (“sister”), Dutch zuster (“sister”), German Schwester (“sister”), Norwegian Bokmål søster (“sister”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish syster (“sister”), Icelandic systir (“sister”), Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌰𐍂 (swistar, “sister”), Latin soror (“sister”), Russian сестра́ (sestrá, “sister”), Lithuanian sesuo (“sister”), Albanian vajzë (“girl, maiden”), Sanskrit स्वसृ (svásṛ, “sister”), Persian خواهر‎ (xâhar, “sister”).

In standard English, the form with i is due to contamination with Old Norse systir (“sister”).

The plural sistren is from Middle English sistren, a variant plural of sister, suster (“sister”); compare brethren.

Pronunciation[edit]

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪs.tə(ɹ)/
• (General American) enPR: sĭs’tər, IPA^(key): /ˈsɪs.tɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɪstə(ɹ)
• Homophone: cister
• Hyphenation: sis‧ter

Noun[edit]

sister (plural sisters or (archaic in most senses) sistren)

1. A daughter of the same parents as another person; a female sibling.

   Synonym: (slang) sis

   Antonym: brother

   Hypernym: sibling

   My sister is always driving me crazy.

2. A female member of a religious order; especially one devoted to more active service; (informal) a nun.

   Synonym: nun

   Coordinate terms: brother, friar, frater

   Michelle left behind her bank job and became a sister at the local convent.

3. Any butterfly in the genus Adelpha, so named for the resemblance of the dark-colored wings to the black habit traditionally worn by nuns.
4. (Britain) A senior or supervisory nurse, often in a hospital.

   Synonym: charge nurse

5. Any woman or girl with whom a bond is felt through common membership in a community, race, profession, religion, organization, or ism.

   Connie was very close to her friend Judy and considered her to be her sister.

   • 1985, “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves”, in Who’s Zoomin’ Who?, performed by Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin:

     Sisters are doing it for themselves / Standing on their own two feet

6. (slang, sometimes capitalized) A black woman.

   • 2009, Rajen Persaud, Why Black Men Love White Women, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 171:

     The short “naps” of the average Sister do not sway in the wind as that of a blonde.

7. (informal) A form of address to a woman.

   Synonyms: darling, dear, love, (US) lady, miss, (northern UK) pet

   What’s up, sister?

8. A woman, in certain religious, labour or socialist circles; also as a form of address.

   Thank you, sister. I would like to thank the sister who just spoke.

9. (attributively) An entity that has a special or affectionate, non-hierarchical relationship with another.

   Synonyms: affiliate, affiliated

   sister publication

   sister city

   sister projects

10. (computing theory) A node in a data structure that shares its parent with another node.
11. (usually attributively) Something in the same class.

    sister ships

    sister facility

Usage notes[edit]

• In Roman Catholicism, a distinction is often drawn (especially by members of female religious orders) between nuns and sisters, the former being cloistered and devoted primarily to prayer, the latter being more active, doing work such as operating hospitals, caring for the poor, or teaching.
• The plural sistren is no longer commonly used for biological sisters in contemporary English (although it was in the past) but may be found in some religious, feminist, or poetic usage.

Coordinate terms[edit]

• brother
• brethren

Derived terms[edit]

[edit]

• sororal
• sistren
• suster
• sustah

Descendants[edit]

• → Gulf Arabic: سِسْتَر‎ (sistar, “female nurse”)
• → Japanese: シスター (shisutā)
• → Korean: 시스터 (siseuteo)

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

sister (third-person singular simple present sisters, present participle sistering, simple past and past participle sistered)

1. (transitive, construction) To strengthen (a supporting beam) by fastening a second beam alongside it.

   I’m trying to correct my sagging floor by sistering the joists.

2. (obsolete, transitive) To be sister to; to resemble closely.

   • c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon,  […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act V, scene 1]:

     Deep clerks she dumbs; and with her needle composes
     Nature’s own shape, of bud, bird, branch, or berry,
     That even her art sisters the natural roses;
     Her inkle, silk, twin with the rubied cherry

Translations[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

• Istres, Reists, reists, resist, resits, restis, risest

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

sister

1. Alternative form of suster

Scots[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English sister, syster, forms of suster influenced by Old Norse systir, from Old English sweostor, swustor, sweoster, from Proto-Germanic *swestēr, from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɪstər]

Noun[edit]

sister (plural sisteris)

1. sister

Derived terms[edit]

• guid-sister

Last Updated:
4 Apr 2023
— Updated example sentences

Asked by: Frederick Lockman

Score: 4.9/5
(14 votes)

A sister is a woman or girl who shares one or more parents with another individual. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familial relationships. A full sister is a first degree relative.

What is the real meaning of sister?

1 : a female who has one or both parents in common with another. 2 often capitalized. a : a member of a women’s religious order (as of nuns or deaconesses) especially : one of a Roman Catholic congregation under simple vows. b : a girl or woman who is a member of a Christian church.

What does a sister girl mean?

Sistergirl is a term used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to describe gender diverse people that have a female spirit and take on female roles within the community. Including looking after children and family. Many Sistergirls live a traditional lifestyle and have strong cultural backgrounds.

What do we call our sister’s daughter?

niece Add to list Share. Your niece is your siblings’s daughter.

What Sissy means?

Sissy is a derogatory name for someone, especially a man or boy, who seems weak or cowardly, or who acts in a stereotypically feminine way. People who call others sissies aren’t just insulting the so-called sissy.

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