Cousin chart

A cousin chart identifies the correct name for the relationship between two people with a common ancestor. This chart uses formal English relationship terms. For a general overview of kinship terminology, see the appropriate section in the article Family.

Related Topics:
English - Family

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The term cousin typically refers to the child of one's parent's sibling. This is more correctly termed a "first cousin".

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More generally, "cousins" are any relatives that are neither siblings nor direct descendents/ancestors. Ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc) are used to quantify in which preceding generation the common direct ancestor is located. The term is then completed with a number removed, which indicates how many generations separate the relatives in question.

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Thus, if one of John's great-great-grandparents is also one of Mary's great-great-great-great-grandparents, John and Mary are "third cousins twice removed". In purely mathematical terms, a sibling could be defined as a "zeroth cousin", and a niece/nephew–aunt/uncle relationship could be described as "zeroth cousins once removed"; however such terms are never used.

Related Topics:
John - Mary

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The chart below helps explain cousin relationships. Note that in informal usage, a granduncle is often called a great uncle and a grandaunt is often called a great aunt.

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* Here, "grandniece" is used as an abbreviation to indicate that they are each other's "grandniece/grandnephew & grandaunt/granduncle"

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