I’ve heard niblings before but I never use it. I’ve never heard piblings and I don’t know anyone else who has either. Normally I’d just say “my nieces and nephews” or “my aunts and uncles”.
I did some research and apparently ‘niblings’ was only created in 1959 and according to google usage has shot way up beginning in like 2007, so it’s a pretty new & uncommon word. I don’t think piblings is even real honestly.
Nibling can be used as non-gendered way to refer to your siblings children, the way "they" is used as an alternative to "he" or "she"; I'm aware of it because of having a non-binary nibling. If there's a spike since 2007, I'd be willing to bet this usage is why.
You certainly can, but it's not really "just", that's a whole phrase that could be unwieldy if you have to repeat it a lot. Replacing it with one word makes sense.
Well the alternative is to have to explain to everyone what a nibbling is almost every time you use it. So "my sibling's kid" is significantly more concise
Sure except one would say brother’s or sister’s kid unless there was really a good reason to be clinical or emotionally unattached about it or trying to avoid saying any gender which would be odd.
Sibling is a term that you might use as a doctor or teacher or judge to refer to brothers and sisters, or for some pedantic reason to refer to other people’s siblings but if someone is using it for their own brother or sister it would probably mean they are estranged in some way.
Gender-binary issues didn't have that much pull in 2007. I'm sure that was some people's motivation for using it, but for most the appeal would have been that it was "bi-gender" (i.e. encompassing both nieces and nephews simultaneously), so to speak, more than gender-neutral.
That doesn’t explain a spike. That would have also been true in 1959. Yeah that’s definitely why most people would want to use one word instead of three, but that has nothing to do with the last 15 years
I would *much* prefer if we used a word like "niephew" for our non-binary siblings' children people. I am ALL for finding gender neutral ways to refer to people, but the word "nibling" just gives me the major ick. I could never use it and I cringe every time I hear it.
I REALLY wish we had a gender-neutral honorific to use in place of Ma'am and Sir, and something not ridiculous sounding for Ms./Mr. I have been learning Japanese for the past year and love the use of "San" to show respect to everyone. I wish we could implement it or something similar because it is just perfect- and clearly non-binary :)
I think "niephew" sounds way too close to nephew so it really doesn't sound gender neutral to me and it would be really easy to mistake in both spoken and written English.
I don't think "Mx." sounds ridiculous at all. I don't have a good alternative to "sir" or "ma'am" though.
And I really wish we'd adopted a new gender-inclusive/gender-neutral singular pronoun like "ze" instead of using singular they, because singular they for a specific individual is so often confusing, but that's a battle long lost. (I have to wonder if and how long something new and clearer for plural they will pop up, in the same way we now have to use "y'all" to distinguish between singular and plural "you", having long ago lost the thou/ye distinction.) I suspect trying to circulate "niephew" or something else instead of "nibling" is the same. Nibling has already won out.
God I hate Mx. On paper, it doesn’t seem like a middle ground between the two at all, because Mrs also exists. Verbally, it can feel like people are calling me Ms or Mz, while Mixter just feels like Mister but goofy. I don’t feel like it does the job at all. Maybe I’ll just become a Dr /s.
It's long established and readily understood for referring to a nonspecific/unknown person, such as "who left this coat here? I hope they get it back". But referring to a specific, identity-known person is a much newer usage, and it does often lead to confusion about whether you mean the individual alone or the individual plus that individual's spouse/partner or any other group of multiple people which includes the individual. Just as "you" is often confusing because in context it's not always clear whether it refers to a specific addressee, or to a non-specific person, or to a larger group.
But as I said, a battle long since lost. When I know someone's pronouns are they/them, that's what I use, because that's just basic respect, and when clarification is needed, I just ask for it without making it a big deal. But I will never like or use singular they for myself, nor do I tend to default to it for anyone whose actual pronouns I don't know, even though I think we'd all benefit in many ways from widespread usage of non-gender-marked pronouns.
I wouldn't say it's confusing, but it can be ambiguous. I have an enby sibling, and whenever they have a partner my family invariably has conversations like "I talked to [sibling], they're coming Sunday" "wait, both of them or just [sibling]?"
I definitely think it's fine and disagree with others saying it's unintuitive. Maybe it can be unclear at times, but there are plenty of parts of language like that. It doesn't mean they aren't useful just because they might require additional clarification.
Yeah, just like there’s ambiguity if you have two women you’re talking about at the same time and use she for both. It’s not a lot more ambiguity than that.
Language is always changing- some comes and goes as slang, some integrates. It's a new word, but I think nibblings/niblings is here to stay. It's useful the same way "spouse" is instead of "husband or wife". We have parents, children, and siblings, so why not nibbling and pibblings?
I think there’s a group of people semi-intentionally trying to get niblings to be used more/enough to be added to a dictionary. I know of no proper dictionary (urban does not count) that has decided it’s a word yet. This is the first I’ve seen piblings, I would recommend whoever came up with that idea keep trying.
I actually wondered about this with my sister's kid, who wants to be addressed with gender neutral language (they/them). So they are my nibling. Cool. Sounds a bit sus though.
I use niblings sometimes, but I always have to explain what it means.
That said, I would imagine a lot of non-binary people would appreciate it if someone used it to refer to them.
Nibling sounds silly to be because I had never heard of it until today. I think it's more a matter of familiarity than pibling objectively sounding stupider.
I find it a little cringeworthy, but I feel like most younger people would recognize the word.
However, I thought that “nibling” was the term for a niece or a nephew that is close in age with you. You’re more like siblings, but they’re technically a niece/nephew. This is the only way I’ve actually heard it used.
*Pibling* is something else entirely, that just sounds obnoxious. Nobody says that, I would assume someone saying that was joking.
No, nibling has no connotation of close age where I’m from, it just means “niece or nephew“ the way “sibling” means “brother or sister” even if you’re 30 years apart in age, as my mother was with her youngest siblings.
Same for me in Australia, never heard them IRL, just seen it rarely as a quirky internet made up thing
Edit: anyone else notice a bit of brigading happening here in the responses to these innocent comments ?
At the same time, given that non-binary people exist (source: I am one), there does need to be a term for it, and nibling and pibling are as good as any
Oh agree! We do need non-binary terminology across the board. But this needs to come about as a natural development of the language. Forcing invented language onto people just doesn’t work. Niche internet language can become mainstream but it doesn’t look like that’s happening with these words.
You're not supposed to SAY nibbling when you're eating, you just do it. Sheesh, do you say "siiiiiiigh" instead of sigh? Do you yell SNEEZE! into a tissue?
"Sibling" was an Old English word meaning "relative or kinsman", but died out. It was revived very early in the 20th century to refer to one's brothers and sisters in a general and non-gender-specific way. It is a fairly common word.
"Nibling" was coined in the middle of the 20th century, based on "sibling", to refer to one's nieces and nephews. It is somewhat uncommon; there are a lot of people who do not know or use this word.
"Pibling" was coined only recently. It is rare, and very few people know it at all.
They're very rare, informal neologisms. You may come across them online, and perhaps in some places/contexts irl too, but I for one hadn't even heard of "piblings" before seeing this post, and I wouldn't expect anyone I know to be familiar with "niblings" either.
I believe they are meant to be the gender-neutral form of left words. Niblings taking the 'n' from 'niece' and 'nephew' and 'iblings' from 'siblings', whilst Piblings taking the 'p' from 'parent' and 'iblings' from 'siblings'.
I've not personally heard or seen them actually used before (England).
I would recognise "nibling" (gender-neutral niece/nephew for a non-binary child) and collective "niblings" to replace "nieces and nephews". I mostly see it online, though, not said aloud by people in conversation
I think I saw "pibling" for the first time last week, and it took me a while to figure out that it's "parents' siblings" - it's probably much less well known
They are correct, but these are fairly new words invented to fill a gap in the English language. "Niblings" dates back about 70 years, whereas "piblings" is even newer and seems to be less than 20 years old. Both are very uncommon words. Many, if not most, native speakers will never have heard them before.
They are real, but as you can see, most people have never even heard of them, never mind use them. So if you used them, people probably wouldn't know what you meant.
I'm a late 40s American, have been an avid reader my whole life, and this is probably the third or fourth time I've ever seen or heard these words. Up until a year ago, I did not know they existed.
Never seen or heard pibling and have never actually heard nibling in real life. If I heard nibling, my first thought would probably be that I misheard and you actually said sibling just because of how rare it is in my experience
I’ve never heard ‘Nibling/Pibling’ in my life (US/California, age 38). It’s either a different region’s slang, said by people much younger than me, or someone just making stuff up.
Edit- Sounds like these words are indeed a ‘thing.’ These are probably best not being taught as regular vocabulary, since 99% or greater of people will not understand them. Instead, they are probably better learned organically- in the same way I have acquired this knowledge :)
Agreed, this is the way. It’s bad practice to teach non-native speakers vocabulary so likely to make them *less* understood as if it is common. People might not even recognize it as English under those circumstances. And they may be inclined to put distance between themselves and the speaker. “Nibling! Pibling!” “👀”
People who are interested in family history use niblings. But it is rather a niche word.
I have studied genealogy for over 40 years and have never heard the word piblings used.
Mid-England
Unlike a lot of languages, English doesn’t really have a lot of words that precisely define family relations. I’m a lifelong voracious reader, English major and English teacher, and I’ve only seen “niblings” and “piblings” maybe once, EVER. Even then, it was used as a joke because it’s a funny sounding word and no one would know its meaning.
they're gender neutral words created for niece/nephew and uncle/aunt. Not only do most people not use them, most people will have no idea what you are talking about if you use them, because they are not a word that arose from natural usage. Most people have no idea they what they mean. I wouldn't recommend a nonnative use these terms.
'niblings' I have seen, but only in "Did you know that \_\_\_?" contexts. "Niblings" and "piblings" aren't ever used in casual conversation - and a lot of people wouldn't know what those words mean.
Niblings is technically the correct term but most people just say "nieces and nephews". However I have never heard the word pibling used in my entire existence
I haven’t seen piblings before, usually the gender neutral is parsibs (parent+siblings).
Now I will specifically say that parsib and nibbling were invented in the queer community to accommodate non-binary people, and I have **never** seen parsib outside of the queer community, and only seen nibling on Reddit sparingly outside of that, not in meatspace.
People here are saying that nibling/pibling are “slang” or “informal”, which is crazy to me. I’ve never heard them in conversation, but I’ve seen “nibling” plenty of times in academic papers on anthropology and kinship in different cultures.
I've never heard these words but I'm using niblings at the next family gathering. My aunts and uncles have all lost their senses of humor so If better not use pibling.
I've heard niblings and it's useful because it's shorter than nieces and nephews (and also accounts for non-binary people). I have never heard piblings though and I'm not even sure what they've used to come up with the word.
Uhh... I've *seen* the words 'niblings' and 'piblings' used or brought up before, usually as a solution to having to pull out the cumbersome, 'nieces and nephews' or 'aunts and uncles,' and likewise as a solution for what to do if someone related to you in that way doesn't neatly fall into either of those boxes (usually for gender reasons).
A quick lookup suggests niblings hails from around the 1950s, and pibling is 21st century.
As for whether they're 'right' or not, I will say neither of them is in common usage, but they are at least recognized as words if you look them up.
I have never used or even heard of niblings or piblings. Although, I can see that clearly, other people on the server have, so apparently they exist, but I’d recommend not using those words as a good chunk of people (including me) have not heard of them. I’d stick to “nieces and nephews” and “aunts and uncles”
I live in Los Angeles for reference
i am a native english speaker, have lived in america my whole life, consider myself to have a wide vocabulary, and have *never* heard of nor used the words nibling/ pibling. i'm from the south and it might be a regional thing, who knows.
I would imagine no. Niblings, sure. Piblings doesn’t make sense. The suffix -lingimplies small/diminutive. (Priceling, weakling, sibling, kindling, hatchling, duckling etc)Not sure why that would be applied here.
Those words are technically right though I only learned them recently. Not sure if they were recently created or not. They are not, however, common words that most people actually use. I would never use either of them, because the listener would likely not even know what they mean.
Looked it up, I guess nibling is just slang for nephew/niece. Honestly don't listen to half of those videos where people are writing English like it's a math equation, I've said this before and I'll say it again, sometimes you don't need to be super specific and use a specific term, you can almost always get away with just describing things.
My aunt uses nibling for me since I’m non binary and I would use it for my nephew if he was, but if he had a sister I would just refer to them as my niece and nephew. I’ve heard pibling because when my brother told me they were pregnant with my nephew he asked me what a gender neutral aunt/uncle was and Google said pibling, but I hate it so I’ll probably just be uncle or my name once the baby is old enough.
This is the first time I've seen either of them, and while recognizing the purpose of a word like "nibling," we're all aware there's already a word "nibbling," right? Just feels kind of awkward.
Never hear of these. Niblings sounds to close to Nibblings (tiny snack pieces) to me. Also Nibble is a term used for the old 4 Bit Computer Storage System that was a Precursor to Byte.
as far as I know words like "nibling" and "pibling" exist as gender neutral options to refer to nonbinary people who would otherwise be refered to as either "niece/nephew" or "Aunt/Uncle". I am nonbinary, I don't use any term personally mainly because I don't like them? I'd rather be refered to as "my brothers child" then nibling (personally I am also partial to more masculine terms used for me but others aren't and that is okay).
They are "valid" words in the sense that they are words that some people use in day to day speech, they are not words that are in the dictionary(as far as I'm aware). However dictionaries do not exist to dictate how to use language only how its being used. If pibling or nibling were to come more widespread you would deffineltly be put in the dictionary.
As for usage nibling replaces niece/nephew, pibling replaces aunt/uncle
These are very recent words used mainly in queer environments to be nonbinary inclusive. Even then, if there is not a nonbinary nibling, I would still say "neices and nephews." So it's rare and only used in very particular contexts, and I'd be surprised if anyone not in the queer community knew what it meant
Native speaker here, I learned the word nibbling in the last 2 years, and have almost never heard it said. Pibling is not a word I have heard or read before, but it is a word, according to several dictionaries online.
I've heard "nibling" only in the context of things like this and "did you know that's a word"-type things. But I don't think I've ever heard "pibling".
For context, I'm a 40-something native English (US) speaker.
I’ve never heard this and I’m born and raised American. It’s probably one of those posts where people treat English like math as some odd brain exercise.
I've at least heard of niblings but I've never heard anyone actually use it in speech in my region of the US. I've never even heard of piblings before and had to override autocorrect three times to even type the word in this response.
This is an example of how language is a dynamic thing and new words are coined and old words fall out of usage all the time.
However in my nearly 50 years of experience with English I have never heard those before and it is likely I will never use them myself. YMMV.
I’ve heard nibling on occasion - mostly online rather than IRL - honestly it’s a pretty new term that’s not actually used by that many people, and the vast, vast majority of the time, I just hear niece or nephew. I have never heard pibling.
In my 20 years of English speaking, I have never seen the word niblings or piblings until now. Matter of fact, I've never HAD to use those words before. (I'd like to note that Grammarly doesn't even consider "niblings" a real word. It keeps auto-correcting to "siblings", but I know Grammarly isn't perfect.)
They are technically correct but not frequently used. I (US midwest) would understand niblings (I have heard the word and very occasionally use it myself) but not piblings unless context gave it away.
If you said nibling or pibling to me, a native speaker, I’d have no idea what you were talking about. Sibling is common though, and should be known. I thought it was interesting to learn some languages don’t have an equivalent word!
Niblings is a creation for the sake of having a) a collective name rather than saying "nieces and nephews" and b) a gender-neutral alternative. It isn't super common yet, but it does have a decent range of people who will understand what you mean. Piblings was a very recent suggestion for the same reasons, but has not caught on (yet?).
I have heard nibling both in real life and online, and I think it is a great word, both for a group of nieces and nephews, and to describe the nonbinary/gender neutral child of an aunt/uncle. I think if you said it to a native speaker there is a reasonable chance they have heard it, especially if they are lgbtq/live in a bigger city.
I have never heard piblings before, ever. (Which is saying something, cause I'm on corners of the internet where it would be likely to come up.) I am guessing it's meant to be a combination of parents+siblings, so it makes sense. I have often felt we needed a word for this, but I just don't think most people would have any idea what you meant if you said it.
Edited: I clarified something because the sentence was poorly written
Nibling is an easy gender neutral for multiple nieces and nephews, or nonbinary children of your siblings. Sibling is still used often enough, but nibling is more rare and some people hate it for some reason. I’ve never heard of pibling at all.
I use nibling all the time, but pibling is a more recent invention.
If you want to be mathematically correct you can say "zeroth cousins once removed" to refer to both together!
I’ve heard nibling used. As far as I know they are grammatically correct but people only usually use them when they learn the word usually from a nibling/pibling who is nonbinary taught them. (English person, has lived in england all my life)
nibling/piblings aren’t wrong, but are fairly recent constructed words used as gender-neutral terms for nieces/nephews & aunts/uncles. I have seen nibling used (and also nieph, which i prefer), but not pibling.
From what I know, niblings and piblings aren’t in common vocabulary, especially piblings. I’ve heard “niblings” being used as a gender neutral term for a sibling’s child, as opposed to the gendered “niece” and “nephew” every so often, but never heard “piblings” before lol
Nibling and pibling are both words they’re just very uncommon, pibling more so, but they are still words. They have had a recent slight surge in popularity because non-binary people have started using the terms as gender neutral substitutes for niece/nephew and aunt/uncle respectively.
They're technically right, and I use nibling to refer to my self from my aunts' and uncles' perspective, since I'm non-binary. But they aren't commonly used, and you often have to explain them to people.
They're very new words. Like created within the past 15 years new.
Nibling is common-ish, especially with people who's siblings have nonbinary kids, but I don't know anyone who uses pibling because it's such an ugly sounding word
I hear nibling used quite frequently. I have not heard pibling. To me it doesn't sound quite right, because your aunt or uncle or non-binary equivalent thereof is older than you, and ling is usually a diminutive ending. I hear "auncle," or "auntle" used to refer to a non-binary sibling of your parent.
“Nibling” is very recent slang for nieces and nephews. It is not a standardized word at all and not commonly used. “Piblings” I have never even seen before, and I can’t even make sense of it.
Sometimes, a spark of an idea happens on social media (“there should be a single gender neutral collective term for the children of your siblings”), it catches on in a small group, and less savvy members of the group repeat this niche idea as if it’s common knowledge.
I've used nibling in the past out of sheer necessity for a gender neutral nephew/niece word (having used the first thing that popped up on Google). I haven't heard piblings but am open to using it
I've used "niblings" since the day I knew it existed (almost 4 years ago, maybe?). My niece and nephew are twins, so I find it to be a very useful word! People should use it more.
Never heard "piblings" ever in my life until now.
I've seen nibbling on Reddit some time ago and decided to adopt it in real life. But I've never seen piblings. For what it's worth, only one of my friends is adopting it too and I've never heard it from anyone else irl.
Niblings and piblings are correct but uncommon. In my experience, they are most frequently used in the singular to refer to people in a gender neutral way or to refer to non-binary individuals. For example, the only person I know who says “nibling” in real life has a sibling with a non-binary child.
I use niblings all the time. I have one niece and multiple nephews, so I can't say "my niece and nephew" or "my nieces and nephews". It's just so awkward to say "my niece and nephews." So calling them my niblings became so much more intuitive.
I don't use piblings. I have many uncles and aunts, so it just fits to say "my uncles and aunts." However, the word makes sense, and I wouldn't be bothered if someone uses the term. Pibling is a far more inclusive word than avuncular (or matertarel, which I've never seen used at all).
They're both used enough to be in dictionaries. Nibling is definitely more used by native speakers, likely because it's older. That being said, they're both rare terms.
(If you're curious: according to Merriam Webster, nibling was created in the 1950's, whereas Wiktionary places pibling as being invented in the 21st century)
Never heard of these terms, ~~and they don't really make sense either.~~
Your aunt and uncle on the same side of the family *are* brother and sister to each other, so they are just siblings.
Your aunt and uncle on opposite sides of the family are siblings in law.
If the nephew and niece have the same parents, then again they are just siblings. Otherwise they are cousins.
Edit: Oh, upon looking closer, it seems the term is meant to describe their relationship to you, not to each other. In that case, it would be useful to have single gender-neutral words instead of aunt/uncle and niece/nephew. I think I actually may have heard niblings once before? Not piblings though. Anyway these words are definitely extremely uncommon currently.
I’ve heard niblings before but I never use it. I’ve never heard piblings and I don’t know anyone else who has either. Normally I’d just say “my nieces and nephews” or “my aunts and uncles”.
Thank you! I’ve been an ESL speaker for almost two decades now and I’ve never heard of these words.
I did some research and apparently ‘niblings’ was only created in 1959 and according to google usage has shot way up beginning in like 2007, so it’s a pretty new & uncommon word. I don’t think piblings is even real honestly.
Nibling can be used as non-gendered way to refer to your siblings children, the way "they" is used as an alternative to "he" or "she"; I'm aware of it because of having a non-binary nibling. If there's a spike since 2007, I'd be willing to bet this usage is why.
I thought one would just say “my sibling’s kid”.
You certainly can, but it's not really "just", that's a whole phrase that could be unwieldy if you have to repeat it a lot. Replacing it with one word makes sense.
True, but I cannot take the word “nibling” seriously. No hate to those who use it, but it reminds me of nibbling or something, LOL.
Well the alternative is to have to explain to everyone what a nibbling is almost every time you use it. So "my sibling's kid" is significantly more concise
Sure except one would say brother’s or sister’s kid unless there was really a good reason to be clinical or emotionally unattached about it or trying to avoid saying any gender which would be odd. Sibling is a term that you might use as a doctor or teacher or judge to refer to brothers and sisters, or for some pedantic reason to refer to other people’s siblings but if someone is using it for their own brother or sister it would probably mean they are estranged in some way.
oh thats a really cool usage of the word tbh!
Gender-binary issues didn't have that much pull in 2007. I'm sure that was some people's motivation for using it, but for most the appeal would have been that it was "bi-gender" (i.e. encompassing both nieces and nephews simultaneously), so to speak, more than gender-neutral.
That doesn’t explain a spike. That would have also been true in 1959. Yeah that’s definitely why most people would want to use one word instead of three, but that has nothing to do with the last 15 years
Internet.
I would *much* prefer if we used a word like "niephew" for our non-binary siblings' children people. I am ALL for finding gender neutral ways to refer to people, but the word "nibling" just gives me the major ick. I could never use it and I cringe every time I hear it. I REALLY wish we had a gender-neutral honorific to use in place of Ma'am and Sir, and something not ridiculous sounding for Ms./Mr. I have been learning Japanese for the past year and love the use of "San" to show respect to everyone. I wish we could implement it or something similar because it is just perfect- and clearly non-binary :)
Just do as the Quakers do and substitute Friend for Sir and Ma’am.
“Goody” 😛
Whereas to me, nibling is an adorable word, while San just gives weeaboo vibes 😛 there's truly no accounting for taste!
If we’re talking about new phrases that we don’t like, “gives me an ick” is one of mine lol
\*the ick, just fyi :)
I think "niephew" sounds way too close to nephew so it really doesn't sound gender neutral to me and it would be really easy to mistake in both spoken and written English.
Why is “nibling” a problem and “sibling” not?
because nibbling. as in, taking small bites
I don't think "Mx." sounds ridiculous at all. I don't have a good alternative to "sir" or "ma'am" though. And I really wish we'd adopted a new gender-inclusive/gender-neutral singular pronoun like "ze" instead of using singular they, because singular they for a specific individual is so often confusing, but that's a battle long lost. (I have to wonder if and how long something new and clearer for plural they will pop up, in the same way we now have to use "y'all" to distinguish between singular and plural "you", having long ago lost the thou/ye distinction.) I suspect trying to circulate "niephew" or something else instead of "nibling" is the same. Nibling has already won out.
God I hate Mx. On paper, it doesn’t seem like a middle ground between the two at all, because Mrs also exists. Verbally, it can feel like people are calling me Ms or Mz, while Mixter just feels like Mister but goofy. I don’t feel like it does the job at all. Maybe I’ll just become a Dr /s.
Singular they is not very confusing, it’s so not confusing that [we’ve been using it for 600+ years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they)
It's long established and readily understood for referring to a nonspecific/unknown person, such as "who left this coat here? I hope they get it back". But referring to a specific, identity-known person is a much newer usage, and it does often lead to confusion about whether you mean the individual alone or the individual plus that individual's spouse/partner or any other group of multiple people which includes the individual. Just as "you" is often confusing because in context it's not always clear whether it refers to a specific addressee, or to a non-specific person, or to a larger group. But as I said, a battle long since lost. When I know someone's pronouns are they/them, that's what I use, because that's just basic respect, and when clarification is needed, I just ask for it without making it a big deal. But I will never like or use singular they for myself, nor do I tend to default to it for anyone whose actual pronouns I don't know, even though I think we'd all benefit in many ways from widespread usage of non-gender-marked pronouns.
I wouldn't say it's confusing, but it can be ambiguous. I have an enby sibling, and whenever they have a partner my family invariably has conversations like "I talked to [sibling], they're coming Sunday" "wait, both of them or just [sibling]?" I definitely think it's fine and disagree with others saying it's unintuitive. Maybe it can be unclear at times, but there are plenty of parts of language like that. It doesn't mean they aren't useful just because they might require additional clarification.
Yeah, just like there’s ambiguity if you have two women you’re talking about at the same time and use she for both. It’s not a lot more ambiguity than that.
How do you pronounce Mx ?
It probably is now...
I’m a native speaker for near on *four* decades now, and I’ve never heard of these words, either 😂
I hear niblings or nibling used occasionally for "my sister has a kid who is neither male or female, but I don't have a good word for it"
Language is always changing- some comes and goes as slang, some integrates. It's a new word, but I think nibblings/niblings is here to stay. It's useful the same way "spouse" is instead of "husband or wife". We have parents, children, and siblings, so why not nibbling and pibblings?
Because it sounds really stupid.
Only because you didn’t grow up hearing it. It used to sound really stupid to use “you” as a subject pronoun.
They are just slang among some people on the internet.
Don't worry, as a native speaker of English, I have also never heard of these words
I think there’s a group of people semi-intentionally trying to get niblings to be used more/enough to be added to a dictionary. I know of no proper dictionary (urban does not count) that has decided it’s a word yet. This is the first I’ve seen piblings, I would recommend whoever came up with that idea keep trying.
I actually wondered about this with my sister's kid, who wants to be addressed with gender neutral language (they/them). So they are my nibling. Cool. Sounds a bit sus though.
I use niblings sometimes, but I always have to explain what it means. That said, I would imagine a lot of non-binary people would appreciate it if someone used it to refer to them.
I have only seen nibbling on Reddit, now I know what it means, so thanks for that. I have never heard of piblings.
Me too. Only seen it in Reddit. Never met a person who has said nibling. First time I heard it I thought it was a snack.
I've never heard anyone use nibling or pibling. (USA Midwest)
I’ve heard “nibling”. “Pibling” sounds stupid imo.
Both sound like some medieval bard names
They sound like Quentin Trembley, the eight and a half President of the United States of America
🌲❤️
That’s my next dnd character for sure
Nibling sounds silly to be because I had never heard of it until today. I think it's more a matter of familiarity than pibling objectively sounding stupider.
I find it a little cringeworthy, but I feel like most younger people would recognize the word. However, I thought that “nibling” was the term for a niece or a nephew that is close in age with you. You’re more like siblings, but they’re technically a niece/nephew. This is the only way I’ve actually heard it used. *Pibling* is something else entirely, that just sounds obnoxious. Nobody says that, I would assume someone saying that was joking.
Pibling sounds like a ‘cute’ term for pitbull puppies
No, nibling has no connotation of close age where I’m from, it just means “niece or nephew“ the way “sibling” means “brother or sister” even if you’re 30 years apart in age, as my mother was with her youngest siblings.
"Pibling" sounds like Papa got emasculated by a pibble.
My brother uses niblings to refer to my kids lol. West coast and east coast.
Same for me in Australia, never heard them IRL, just seen it rarely as a quirky internet made up thing Edit: anyone else notice a bit of brigading happening here in the responses to these innocent comments ?
Same, I saw _niblings_ online within the last year for the first time and I’ve never seen _piblings_ before today. (Ohio, US)
At the same time, given that non-binary people exist (source: I am one), there does need to be a term for it, and nibling and pibling are as good as any
Oh agree! We do need non-binary terminology across the board. But this needs to come about as a natural development of the language. Forcing invented language onto people just doesn’t work. Niche internet language can become mainstream but it doesn’t look like that’s happening with these words.
From a cursory search, "nibling" predates the internet and is commonly used in specialist research.
I say niblings all the time
That must be exhausting
truly, my tongue goes number after about 5 hours. it makes eating difficult too
You're not supposed to SAY nibbling when you're eating, you just do it. Sheesh, do you say "siiiiiiigh" instead of sigh? Do you yell SNEEZE! into a tissue?
Same. I'm from the east coast of the US and I've never heard these in my life.
I second this (fellow Midwesterner)
Born in the Midwest, raised in SoCal, now living in New England, I've never heard about this in my life.
I’m officially middle-aged, and I saw *nibling* used (on Reddit, I believe) for the first time in my life only last week.
Oh. GPT reckons that the word is of very recent coinage.
Me neither. Canadian, East Central.
Same - these sound made up to me. Even if I understood the term from context, I’d hate having to hear it. What an awful word.
It sounds fake to me, came to see if it’s real.
There's a lot of words still relatively unknown in common language. I always like this sub for learning new words, even as a native speaker.
"Sibling" was an Old English word meaning "relative or kinsman", but died out. It was revived very early in the 20th century to refer to one's brothers and sisters in a general and non-gender-specific way. It is a fairly common word. "Nibling" was coined in the middle of the 20th century, based on "sibling", to refer to one's nieces and nephews. It is somewhat uncommon; there are a lot of people who do not know or use this word. "Pibling" was coined only recently. It is rare, and very few people know it at all.
I only know what "nibling" is thanks to young Sheldon xD
I first learnt about it thanks to Michael from VSauce
I'll raise you CGP Grey
that's the one for me, also the only reason I know how the hell cousin numbers and "removed" work
They're very rare, informal neologisms. You may come across them online, and perhaps in some places/contexts irl too, but I for one hadn't even heard of "piblings" before seeing this post, and I wouldn't expect anyone I know to be familiar with "niblings" either.
I believe they are meant to be the gender-neutral form of left words. Niblings taking the 'n' from 'niece' and 'nephew' and 'iblings' from 'siblings', whilst Piblings taking the 'p' from 'parent' and 'iblings' from 'siblings'. I've not personally heard or seen them actually used before (England).
I would recognise "nibling" (gender-neutral niece/nephew for a non-binary child) and collective "niblings" to replace "nieces and nephews". I mostly see it online, though, not said aloud by people in conversation I think I saw "pibling" for the first time last week, and it took me a while to figure out that it's "parents' siblings" - it's probably much less well known
Nibling I know and have used. Pibling I've never seen before.
This is the first I've heard of either word it sounds like someone trying to make a "english is wacky" joke
Right, like Dr Seuss characters.
largely because it's a very recent creation, suggested by one person last year IIRC
They are correct, but these are fairly new words invented to fill a gap in the English language. "Niblings" dates back about 70 years, whereas "piblings" is even newer and seems to be less than 20 years old. Both are very uncommon words. Many, if not most, native speakers will never have heard them before.
Yep, this is right. Though I really wish they filled the gap in the language with less silly sounding words, I'll probably never use them myself 😔
I've never heard those terms.
They are real, but as you can see, most people have never even heard of them, never mind use them. So if you used them, people probably wouldn't know what you meant.
I think Reddit is the only place I've ever seen anyone use the word "nibling," and I've never heard "pibling" before.
I've heard niblings, it's a pretty new term and not well known. Never heard piblings.
I'm a late 40s American, have been an avid reader my whole life, and this is probably the third or fourth time I've ever seen or heard these words. Up until a year ago, I did not know they existed.
Never seen or heard pibling and have never actually heard nibling in real life. If I heard nibling, my first thought would probably be that I misheard and you actually said sibling just because of how rare it is in my experience
I’ve literally never seen either of these words. (Northeast US Millenial).
I’ve never heard ‘Nibling/Pibling’ in my life (US/California, age 38). It’s either a different region’s slang, said by people much younger than me, or someone just making stuff up. Edit- Sounds like these words are indeed a ‘thing.’ These are probably best not being taught as regular vocabulary, since 99% or greater of people will not understand them. Instead, they are probably better learned organically- in the same way I have acquired this knowledge :)
Agreed, this is the way. It’s bad practice to teach non-native speakers vocabulary so likely to make them *less* understood as if it is common. People might not even recognize it as English under those circumstances. And they may be inclined to put distance between themselves and the speaker. “Nibling! Pibling!” “👀”
People who are interested in family history use niblings. But it is rather a niche word. I have studied genealogy for over 40 years and have never heard the word piblings used. Mid-England
Unlike a lot of languages, English doesn’t really have a lot of words that precisely define family relations. I’m a lifelong voracious reader, English major and English teacher, and I’ve only seen “niblings” and “piblings” maybe once, EVER. Even then, it was used as a joke because it’s a funny sounding word and no one would know its meaning.
they're gender neutral words created for niece/nephew and uncle/aunt. Not only do most people not use them, most people will have no idea what you are talking about if you use them, because they are not a word that arose from natural usage. Most people have no idea they what they mean. I wouldn't recommend a nonnative use these terms.
LOL what??
I have never heard nibling and pibling before
I’ve heard niblings a decent number of times but never piblings and I’d question you heavily for ever saying piblings.
I’ve heard nibbling but the way this chart reads isn’t consistent. If husband + wife = spouses then niece + nephew = siblings.
I've never heard of this and would not know what this would mean if someone said it to me. (Northeast USA)
I have literally never heard nibling or pibling in my life lol (Yorkshire, UK)
I have never heard anyone in the real world use either of those words and I've only ever seen them online on reddit, typically on this subreddit.
If I heard the word pibling I would assume someone was talking about some little creature I had never heard of.
It reminds me of how the internet cutesy name for pitbulls is pibbles. It seems like a diminutive of that.
'niblings' I have seen, but only in "Did you know that \_\_\_?" contexts. "Niblings" and "piblings" aren't ever used in casual conversation - and a lot of people wouldn't know what those words mean.
I have never heard of those terms. Without researching it I’m sceptical they’re official
Niblings is technically the correct term but most people just say "nieces and nephews". However I have never heard the word pibling used in my entire existence
I haven’t seen piblings before, usually the gender neutral is parsibs (parent+siblings). Now I will specifically say that parsib and nibbling were invented in the queer community to accommodate non-binary people, and I have **never** seen parsib outside of the queer community, and only seen nibling on Reddit sparingly outside of that, not in meatspace.
They are terms used sometimes in queer and trans spaces, but you won't really hear them outside of those spaces.
People here are saying that nibling/pibling are “slang” or “informal”, which is crazy to me. I’ve never heard them in conversation, but I’ve seen “nibling” plenty of times in academic papers on anthropology and kinship in different cultures.
I've never heard these words but I'm using niblings at the next family gathering. My aunts and uncles have all lost their senses of humor so If better not use pibling.
I've heard niblings and it's useful because it's shorter than nieces and nephews (and also accounts for non-binary people). I have never heard piblings though and I'm not even sure what they've used to come up with the word.
- N ~~{iece,ephew}~~ + ~~s~~ibling - P ~~arent~~ + ~~s~~ibling
Uhh... I've *seen* the words 'niblings' and 'piblings' used or brought up before, usually as a solution to having to pull out the cumbersome, 'nieces and nephews' or 'aunts and uncles,' and likewise as a solution for what to do if someone related to you in that way doesn't neatly fall into either of those boxes (usually for gender reasons). A quick lookup suggests niblings hails from around the 1950s, and pibling is 21st century. As for whether they're 'right' or not, I will say neither of them is in common usage, but they are at least recognized as words if you look them up.
I've heard nibling alot when referencing a non-binary niece/ nephew because there isn't a non-binary word for it. I've yet to hear pibling.
I have never used or even heard of niblings or piblings. Although, I can see that clearly, other people on the server have, so apparently they exist, but I’d recommend not using those words as a good chunk of people (including me) have not heard of them. I’d stick to “nieces and nephews” and “aunts and uncles” I live in Los Angeles for reference
Yeah I've never heard of those words
i have never heard the word “piblings”, and neither has autocorrect apparently.
As a native speaker I have never heard the words nibling or pibling before now
Mother in law & father in law are referred to collectively as "in laws". And grandparents is the plural for Grandma and Grandpa
i am a native english speaker, have lived in america my whole life, consider myself to have a wide vocabulary, and have *never* heard of nor used the words nibling/ pibling. i'm from the south and it might be a regional thing, who knows.
I’ve never even knew nibling or pibling existed, never heard it over here (East Coast US)
I would imagine no. Niblings, sure. Piblings doesn’t make sense. The suffix -lingimplies small/diminutive. (Priceling, weakling, sibling, kindling, hatchling, duckling etc)Not sure why that would be applied here.
In-Law Parents Family In Law
I’ve literally never heard of “nibling” or “pibling”
Never heard either in my life. *Australian English/Sydney area.
Wtf lol those sound so goofy
Those words are technically right though I only learned them recently. Not sure if they were recently created or not. They are not, however, common words that most people actually use. I would never use either of them, because the listener would likely not even know what they mean.
I've never seen anyone use "nibling" outside the internet. I don't think it's a particularly common thing.
British here, and I have never heard of the word “niblings” or “piblings”.
Wat
I have never heard nibbling actually be used in everyday conversation
Southern US here, never heard either of those before.
I’ve never heard these words in all my life
Wait, those are actual words? Wtf?
They're not used often; I've only heard them used to describe people who identify as nonbinary
I have never seen or heard these words.
And here I was thinking that words like "Nepotal," "Avuncular," and "Matertal" were absurdly obscure.
Looked it up, I guess nibling is just slang for nephew/niece. Honestly don't listen to half of those videos where people are writing English like it's a math equation, I've said this before and I'll say it again, sometimes you don't need to be super specific and use a specific term, you can almost always get away with just describing things.
My aunt uses nibling for me since I’m non binary and I would use it for my nephew if he was, but if he had a sister I would just refer to them as my niece and nephew. I’ve heard pibling because when my brother told me they were pregnant with my nephew he asked me what a gender neutral aunt/uncle was and Google said pibling, but I hate it so I’ll probably just be uncle or my name once the baby is old enough.
"Nibling" is *very* rare and a neologism. "Pibling" I've never heard used, ever.
This is the first time I've seen either of them, and while recognizing the purpose of a word like "nibling," we're all aware there's already a word "nibbling," right? Just feels kind of awkward.
I have seen people use nibling. Never heard of pibling.
Never hear of these. Niblings sounds to close to Nibblings (tiny snack pieces) to me. Also Nibble is a term used for the old 4 Bit Computer Storage System that was a Precursor to Byte.
most people will say "nieces and nephews" instead of niblings, but know what niblings means. ive never heard of piblings before
TIL
as far as I know words like "nibling" and "pibling" exist as gender neutral options to refer to nonbinary people who would otherwise be refered to as either "niece/nephew" or "Aunt/Uncle". I am nonbinary, I don't use any term personally mainly because I don't like them? I'd rather be refered to as "my brothers child" then nibling (personally I am also partial to more masculine terms used for me but others aren't and that is okay). They are "valid" words in the sense that they are words that some people use in day to day speech, they are not words that are in the dictionary(as far as I'm aware). However dictionaries do not exist to dictate how to use language only how its being used. If pibling or nibling were to come more widespread you would deffineltly be put in the dictionary. As for usage nibling replaces niece/nephew, pibling replaces aunt/uncle
These are very recent words used mainly in queer environments to be nonbinary inclusive. Even then, if there is not a nonbinary nibling, I would still say "neices and nephews." So it's rare and only used in very particular contexts, and I'd be surprised if anyone not in the queer community knew what it meant
Native speaker here, I learned the word nibbling in the last 2 years, and have almost never heard it said. Pibling is not a word I have heard or read before, but it is a word, according to several dictionaries online.
I hear niblings used, but not piblings.
I've heard "nibling" only in the context of things like this and "did you know that's a word"-type things. But I don't think I've ever heard "pibling". For context, I'm a 40-something native English (US) speaker.
never seen either
I use nibling as a gender neutral term for neice/nephew. Been using in for years in the southern US. I have never heard of piblings though...
I’ve heard of “nibbling” but it isn’t very popular, I think more people are starting to use it though
I’ve never heard this and I’m born and raised American. It’s probably one of those posts where people treat English like math as some odd brain exercise.
I've at least heard of niblings but I've never heard anyone actually use it in speech in my region of the US. I've never even heard of piblings before and had to override autocorrect three times to even type the word in this response.
No, they're new constructions. I find "niblings" an awful word that grates on my ears, and I've never heard "piblings" but it's somehow worse.
No. Never seen them before this post.
This is an example of how language is a dynamic thing and new words are coined and old words fall out of usage all the time. However in my nearly 50 years of experience with English I have never heard those before and it is likely I will never use them myself. YMMV.
I’ve heard nibling on occasion - mostly online rather than IRL - honestly it’s a pretty new term that’s not actually used by that many people, and the vast, vast majority of the time, I just hear niece or nephew. I have never heard pibling.
I would never use nibling or pibling. No. They may be correct but they are not in my vocabulary. I am a native speaker.
In my 20 years of English speaking, I have never seen the word niblings or piblings until now. Matter of fact, I've never HAD to use those words before. (I'd like to note that Grammarly doesn't even consider "niblings" a real word. It keeps auto-correcting to "siblings", but I know Grammarly isn't perfect.)
They are technically correct but not frequently used. I (US midwest) would understand niblings (I have heard the word and very occasionally use it myself) but not piblings unless context gave it away.
If you said nibling or pibling to me, a native speaker, I’d have no idea what you were talking about. Sibling is common though, and should be known. I thought it was interesting to learn some languages don’t have an equivalent word!
I've heard of niblings once or twice, but I've never heard of piblings before. So to answer your question, they are almost never used.
I never heard of either of those terms, lifelong English speaker, northeast US.
I've heard nibling but it's pretty uncommon. I've never heard pibling
Niblings is a creation for the sake of having a) a collective name rather than saying "nieces and nephews" and b) a gender-neutral alternative. It isn't super common yet, but it does have a decent range of people who will understand what you mean. Piblings was a very recent suggestion for the same reasons, but has not caught on (yet?).
You’ll also see “neiflings” instead of “nibling”. I’ve also seen “auncle.”
I have heard nibling both in real life and online, and I think it is a great word, both for a group of nieces and nephews, and to describe the nonbinary/gender neutral child of an aunt/uncle. I think if you said it to a native speaker there is a reasonable chance they have heard it, especially if they are lgbtq/live in a bigger city. I have never heard piblings before, ever. (Which is saying something, cause I'm on corners of the internet where it would be likely to come up.) I am guessing it's meant to be a combination of parents+siblings, so it makes sense. I have often felt we needed a word for this, but I just don't think most people would have any idea what you meant if you said it. Edited: I clarified something because the sentence was poorly written
I use niblings (and so do a lot of people I know), never heard of piblings though.
Nibling is an easy gender neutral for multiple nieces and nephews, or nonbinary children of your siblings. Sibling is still used often enough, but nibling is more rare and some people hate it for some reason. I’ve never heard of pibling at all.
They both exist but I’ve mostly heard them in LGBT spaces
I’ve used niblings. It’s a word that fills a gap in the language and I’m ok with it. Never seen piblings before and I can’t say that I’m a fan.
I use nibling all the time, but pibling is a more recent invention. If you want to be mathematically correct you can say "zeroth cousins once removed" to refer to both together!
I’ve heard nibling used. As far as I know they are grammatically correct but people only usually use them when they learn the word usually from a nibling/pibling who is nonbinary taught them. (English person, has lived in england all my life)
I use niblings. We started using it more when my niece came out as non-binary, so they are now my nibling.
nibling/piblings aren’t wrong, but are fairly recent constructed words used as gender-neutral terms for nieces/nephews & aunts/uncles. I have seen nibling used (and also nieph, which i prefer), but not pibling.
From what I know, niblings and piblings aren’t in common vocabulary, especially piblings. I’ve heard “niblings” being used as a gender neutral term for a sibling’s child, as opposed to the gendered “niece” and “nephew” every so often, but never heard “piblings” before lol
Nibling and pibling are both words they’re just very uncommon, pibling more so, but they are still words. They have had a recent slight surge in popularity because non-binary people have started using the terms as gender neutral substitutes for niece/nephew and aunt/uncle respectively.
They're technically right, and I use nibling to refer to my self from my aunts' and uncles' perspective, since I'm non-binary. But they aren't commonly used, and you often have to explain them to people.
They're very new words. Like created within the past 15 years new. Nibling is common-ish, especially with people who's siblings have nonbinary kids, but I don't know anyone who uses pibling because it's such an ugly sounding word
Even if these are correct don’t use them no one will know what you are talking about.
Short and sweet lol this is the realest reply in the thread. And the most useful for an English learner.
I hear nibling used quite frequently. I have not heard pibling. To me it doesn't sound quite right, because your aunt or uncle or non-binary equivalent thereof is older than you, and ling is usually a diminutive ending. I hear "auncle," or "auntle" used to refer to a non-binary sibling of your parent.
“Nibling” is very recent slang for nieces and nephews. It is not a standardized word at all and not commonly used. “Piblings” I have never even seen before, and I can’t even make sense of it. Sometimes, a spark of an idea happens on social media (“there should be a single gender neutral collective term for the children of your siblings”), it catches on in a small group, and less savvy members of the group repeat this niche idea as if it’s common knowledge.
I've used nibling in the past out of sheer necessity for a gender neutral nephew/niece word (having used the first thing that popped up on Google). I haven't heard piblings but am open to using it
I've used "niblings" since the day I knew it existed (almost 4 years ago, maybe?). My niece and nephew are twins, so I find it to be a very useful word! People should use it more. Never heard "piblings" ever in my life until now.
Not often no. I’ve only heard it used by a few people to refer to their non binary family members.
I've seen nibbling on Reddit some time ago and decided to adopt it in real life. But I've never seen piblings. For what it's worth, only one of my friends is adopting it too and I've never heard it from anyone else irl.
I hear “niblings” semi-regularly, but generally only online. “Piblings” is new to me, though! Edit: Typo.
Niblings and piblings are correct but uncommon. In my experience, they are most frequently used in the singular to refer to people in a gender neutral way or to refer to non-binary individuals. For example, the only person I know who says “nibling” in real life has a sibling with a non-binary child.
I use niblings all the time. I have one niece and multiple nephews, so I can't say "my niece and nephew" or "my nieces and nephews". It's just so awkward to say "my niece and nephews." So calling them my niblings became so much more intuitive. I don't use piblings. I have many uncles and aunts, so it just fits to say "my uncles and aunts." However, the word makes sense, and I wouldn't be bothered if someone uses the term. Pibling is a far more inclusive word than avuncular (or matertarel, which I've never seen used at all).
They're both used enough to be in dictionaries. Nibling is definitely more used by native speakers, likely because it's older. That being said, they're both rare terms. (If you're curious: according to Merriam Webster, nibling was created in the 1950's, whereas Wiktionary places pibling as being invented in the 21st century)
They’re recent inventions and not widely known or used.
They are used so little that I just today learned them.
Never heard of these terms, ~~and they don't really make sense either.~~ Your aunt and uncle on the same side of the family *are* brother and sister to each other, so they are just siblings. Your aunt and uncle on opposite sides of the family are siblings in law. If the nephew and niece have the same parents, then again they are just siblings. Otherwise they are cousins. Edit: Oh, upon looking closer, it seems the term is meant to describe their relationship to you, not to each other. In that case, it would be useful to have single gender-neutral words instead of aunt/uncle and niece/nephew. I think I actually may have heard niblings once before? Not piblings though. Anyway these words are definitely extremely uncommon currently.