Sibling
Sibling denotes a
brother or sister, respectively meaning a male or female who shares at least one
parent with the person being referenced. This is usually taken to mean that the two people are genetically very close, though it is not always necessarily the case, i.e. an adoption.
In most societies throughout the world, siblings will usually grow up in the same household. This closeness is marked with the development of strong emotional associations between them (e.g.,
love,
enmity). However, closeness may not always develop in sibling relationships, particularly between those with an age difference of five years or more.
A
stepsibling (
stepbrother or
stepsister), is a sibling with whom an individual bears no blood relation, and is only related by the marriage of one parent of the individual to one parent of the sibling;
see stepfamily.
A
half sibling (
half brother or
half sister) is a sibling with one shared biological
parent. Half siblings can have a wide variety of interpersonal relationships, from a bond as close as any full siblings, to total strangers.
While many half siblings are stepsiblings and vice versa, someone may have either relationship without the other: step-siblings each have a parent
married to a parent of the other but not necessarily a parent in common, and half siblings not living in the same household are not always considered stepsiblings.Any half sibling of a person was traditionally treated just the same as a regular sibling for all purposes. At law (and especially
Inheritance law), however, half siblings were often accorded unequal treatment. Old English
Common Law at one time incorporated such inequalities into the laws of
intestate succession, with half siblings taking only half as much property. Unequal treatment of this type has been almost wholly abolished in
England and throughout much of the
United States. A very small minority of states in the US, on the other hand, have retained some of the antiquated distinctions in their
inheritance law. In
Oklahoma, for example, "half blood" siblings are not permitted to inherit property through
intestate succession which descends from the family whose "blood" (family line) they do not share.
In
Texas, similarly, "half blood relatives can only inherit half as much property through
intestate succession as relatives who are wholly related to the person who dies.
In
Islam those who are breastfed by a woman other than their biological mother become siblings to the biological children of that woman provided that they are less than 2 years old and have been breastfed five times or more by that woman. According to the
shariah these siblings are not allowed to marry each other.
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Sibling rivalry*
Father*
Mother*
Family*
Cousin chart
