Home › Glossary › Letter N

Nephew

Kinship
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A son of one’s sibling. He may represent youthful energy, family continuity, or an adult speaker’s sense of responsibility.

Detailed Definition
A nephew in poetry may be a child observed at play, an adolescent testing boundaries, or an adult whose life recalls earlier family generations. The speaker’s bond with him can combine affection, pride, concern, and distance, since an aunt or uncle has a special but nonparental role. Poems can use the nephew’s gestures or questions to explore inheritance, changing family structures, aging, and the hope that younger people will carry forward what matters.
Example
Example in poetry:
“My nephew’s kite pulls at the blue” uses nephew to make a family scene immediate and intimate; A speaker can address a nephew directly, as in “Nephew, keep this small river in your pocket,” to blend advice with affection; “I watched my nephew inherit my brother’s laugh” uses nephew to explore resemblance across generations; In an elegy, “My nephew carries the photograph I could not bear to hold” gives grief a concrete family witness
Additional Notes
In poetry, a nephew can evoke an aunt or uncle’s protective love, the passage of family traits, or the speaker’s awareness of growing older. Contrast with niece, and consider whether the relationship is biological, adoptive, or chosen.
Also Known As
Brother’s Son Sister’s Son Kinsman Young Male Relative
Skip to main content