nephew – English noun declension

English noun forms of nephew

Noun: nephew
Singularnephew
Pluralnephews

Sample Sentences

  • Hir father many a time and oft would say my daughter deere,
  • Of Nephewes thou my debtour art, their Graundsires heart to chéere. [1567, Ovid, “The First Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC:]
  • On that day Adam shall see all his nephews together [1647, John Trapp, Commentary on the Epistles and Revelation, page 147:]

Etymology

1. From Middle English nevew, neveu (“nephew, grandson”), from Old French neveu, from Latin nepos, nepōtem, from Proto-Italic *nepōts (“nephew, grandson”), whence also French neveu, Italian nipote. Displaced or absorbed the inherited English neve (“nephew, grandson, male cousin”), from Middle English neve, from Old English nefa, from Proto-West Germanic *nefō, from Proto-Germanic *nefô (“nephew, grandson”), whence Dutch neef, German Neffe. All ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *népōts (“grandchild, sister's son”). Cognate with Serbo-Croatian nećak, Irish nia, Persian نوه (nave). Doublet of neve.
2. Spelt with -ph- by readaptation to Latin nepos since the 15th century, which later triggered the spelling pronunciation with /f/. See: Middle English Nouns 'nevew', Latin Nouns 'nepos', French Nouns 'neveu', Italian Nouns 'nipote', Middle English Nouns 'neve', Old English Nouns 'nefa', Dutch Nouns 'neef', German Nouns 'Neffe', Irish Nouns 'nia'.

Verbs referencing "nephew"

Swedish Nouns nevö, Dutch Nouns niffo.