Glossary
Kinship glossary — the most important relationship terms.
What does „second great-aunt, maternal side" actually mean? An alphabetical reference for the terms Kinverse handles distinctly. This glossary keeps growing — suggestions to kontakt@kinverse.family.
- Adopted child
- Child legally, not biologically, taken into a family. In Kinverse modelled as its own edge type — visible with status, kept apart from blood lines.
- Aunt / uncle
- Sister / brother of a parent. Distinguish: biological aunt (sibling of a parent) from aunt by marriage (spouse of an uncle).
- Brother-in-law / sister-in-law
- Sibling of a spouse, or spouse of a sibling. Strictly only these two constellations — not the spouse-of-sibling-in-law (German „Schwippschwager").
- By marriage / in-law
- Connected through marriage, without biological kinship. In Kinverse modelled via MARRIED_TO edges, separate from PARENT_OF.
- Consanguinity
- Blood relation. As opposed to affinity (relationship through marriage). In Kinverse modelled as the PARENT_OF edge.
- Cousin
- Child of an uncle or aunt. With multiple generation steps: cousin nth degree. With maternal/paternal distinction: two separate terms.
- Cousin nth degree
- n + 1 generations removed from the common ancestor. 1st cousin = regular cousin (shared grandparents). 2nd cousin = shared great-grandparents.
- Cousin once/twice removed
- When the two people are different distances from the common ancestor. „First cousin once removed" = the cousin of a parent, or the child of a cousin.
- Full siblings
- People sharing both parents (as opposed to half-siblings). The Kinverse engine shows this automatically in path computation.
- Godchild
- Person for whom someone took on godparenthood at baptism. In Kinverse modelled as its own edge (GODPARENT_OF), kept apart from biological relations.
- Grandparents
- Parents of one's own parents. Two grandmothers (maternal, paternal), two grandfathers — Kinverse keeps the lines apart.
- Great-aunt / great-uncle
- Sister / brother of a grandparent. Up to four per person if all grandparents had siblings.
- Great-grandparents
- Parents of grandparents. Three generations up. Eight total per person (four maternal, four paternal).
- Great-great-
- Prefix for each further generation up. Great-great-grandparents = four generations up. In Kinverse terms computed automatically, no matter how deep.
- Great-niece / great-nephew
- Granddaughter / grandson of one's own sibling. Not to be confused with great-aunt / great-uncle — those go the other way.
- Half-siblings
- People sharing only one parent. „Maternal" = shared mother, different fathers. „Paternal" = the reverse. Example: Mary I, Elizabeth I, Edward VI — three half-siblings, all paternally Tudor.
- Legitimate child
- Conceived or born in a valid marriage. Had legal consequences for inheritance and titles in many historical trees. Today mostly relevant only for documentation.
- Maternal side
- Via the mother's line. Linguistically precise distinction common in many European languages. „My cousin on my mother's side" = the child of my mother's sibling.
- Niece / nephew
- Daughter / son of one's own sibling. With half-siblings, correspondingly half-niece / half-nephew.
- Parents-in-law
- Parents of one's spouse. Not blood-related to one's own line, but legally relevant (inheritance, obligations).
- Paternity
- Biological or legal father-child relationship. When biological paternity is unclear, Kinverse can carry two parallel lines (acknowledged vs. presumed).
- Quarter-parent
- Rare. Term for a godparent with a special role, e.g. in regions with strong godparent culture. Not a legal term.
- Second marriage
- Marriage after the dissolution or death of a first marriage. Children of the first and second marriage are half-siblings. The Kinverse engine separates these constellations cleanly in path resolution.
- Siblings
- People with the same two parents. With only one shared parent: half-siblings (maternal or paternal side).
- Spouse-of-sibling-in-law
- The German term „Schwippschwager" — your sibling-in-law's sibling-in-law's spouse. A classic stumbling stone for kinship engines. Most tools can't handle it.
- Step-parents
- New spouse of a parent. Not biological, but legally and often everyday quite close. In Kinverse modelled as its own edge (STEP_PARENT_OF).
- Step-siblings
- Children connected to a family through their parents' marriage — no shared biological parents, but a shared parent figure.
- Uncle-niece marriage
- Marriage between an uncle and his niece (or aunt and nephew). Common historically in European royal houses, today forbidden in most jurisdictions. Habsburg example: Philip II married his niece Anna in 1570.
- Widower / widow
- Surviving spouse. After remarriage someone can have been a widower/widow multiple times. Henry VIII would be an extreme case, with six marriages.