Usage of the word sibling

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,

Could you please tell me when it is correct to use the word ‘sibling’? It’s quite rare, isn’t it? E.g. just in formal writing? Or official documents? IN spoken English hardly ever?

Thanks again
Liza

2

I would agree that the use of the word ‘sibling’ is pretty rare in spoken English. You’ll probably find the word ‘sibling’ used most often on official forms.
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3

I don’t agree that it’s rare is spoken English. It is used on official forms, but it’s also common for people to use in ordinary speech. After all, it’s much shorter and simpler than saying “brothers and sisters”.

You’ll also hear the word a lot in fixed expressions, such as “sibling rivalry”, which is very commonly spoken.

4

I’d agree that the expression ‘sibling rivalry’ is not an uncommon expression in spoken English, however, the people I know don’t refer to their ‘sibling(s)’ very often. It’s much more common to talk about your brother(s) and/or sister(s) – despite the fact that it might end up requiring more words. And people don’t really tend to refer to their children as “the siblings” either. :lol:
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5

Dear Jamie,

Thanks for your answer too. So it means, even you would use this question in an ordinary situation? ’ do you have any siblings?’

Maybe nowadays it’s more common? When I learned English at school (20 yrs ago :frowning: we didn’t use this word. But nowadays I 've started to hear it from here and there (not from native speakers), that’s why I’m curious about it. In my language there is an equivalent word for ‘sibling’, and I find it really useful, but I don’t want to start using ‘sibling’ if it’s strange for a native speaker’s ears.

Thanks for your answer.
Bye
Liza

6

This is a very common question even in spoken American English.

Amy and I will just have to agree to disagree, because I hear people use the word “siblings” very frequently.

However, if you’re talking about just one sibling, and you know his or her gender, there’s no point in saying “sibling”, because you know the person is a brother or a sister. You only use “sibling” when you’re talking about a mixed group of them, or when you don’t know the person’s gender. But it IS very commonly used.