sister

[ sis-ter ]

noun

1. a female offspring having both parents in common with another offspring; female sibling.
2. Also called half sister. a female offspring having only one parent in common with another offspring.
3. stepsister.
4. a female friend or protector regarded as a sister.
5. a thing regarded as feminine and associated as if by kinship with something else:

   The ships are sisters.

6. a female fellow member, as of a church.
7. a female member of a religious community that observes the simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
8. British. a nurse in charge of a hospital ward; head nurse.
9. Informal. a term used to refer to or address a fellow Black woman; soul sister.
10. a woman who supports, promotes, or participates in feminism.
11. Informal. a form of address used to a woman or girl, especially jocularly or contemptuously:

    Listen, sister, you've had enough.

adjective

1. being or considered a sister; related by or as if by sisterhood:

   sister ships.

2. having a close relationship with another because of shared interests, problems, or the like:

   We correspond with school children in our sister city.

3. Biochemistry. being one of an identical pair.

sister

/ ˈsɪstə /

noun

1. a female person having the same parents as another person
2. See stepsister, half-sister
   See half-sister stepsister
3. a female person who belongs to the same group, trade union, etc, as another or others
4. informal.
   a form of address to a woman or girl, used esp by Black people in the US
5. a senior nurse
6. RC Church a nun or a title given to a nun
7. a woman fellow member of a Church or religious body
8. modifier belonging to the same class, fleet, etc, as another or others

   a sister ship

9. modifier biology denoting any of the cells or cell components formed by division of a parent cell or cell component

   sister nuclei

Other Words From

• sister·less adjective
• sister·like adjective
• non·sister noun adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of sister¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English (noun) from Old Norse systir; cognate with Old English sweoster, Dutch zuster, German Schwester, Gothic swistar; akin to Serbo-Croatian sèstra, Lithuanian sesuõ, Latin soror (from unattested swesor ), Old Irish siur, Welsh chwaer, Sanskrit svasar “sister,” Greek éor “daughter, niece”

Word History and Origins

Origin of sister¹

Old English sweostor; related to Old Norse systir, Old High German swester, Gothic swistar

Example Sentences

Osaka’s win also served as yet another reminder of the Williams’ sisters legacy, even as Serena Williams was knocked out in the tournament’s semifinal on Thursday.

From Fortune

My mom gave me a key to the house, showed me how to take three trains and a bus to the city and back, and then showed me how to do it with my sister, because I had to take my sister with me as well, but that’s when I knew she knew I really wanted it.

From Ozy

You think it happens a certain way, and then you look at a sister group and it doesn’t work that way at all.

From Quanta Magazine

ByteDance already has its eyes on that business and is pushing TikTok and Douyin, its sister site in China, to add more e-commerce.

From Fortune

Because of the sister story being the focus, Elsa doesn’t have a handsome doofus to follow her around and try to win her love, unlike her sister Anna, who finds herself at the center of a genuine love triangle.

From Vox

Just a week after her divorce, she was invited to a wedding by her sister-in-law.

From The Daily Beast

Kirke, the 23-year-old younger sister of Girls star Jemima Kirke, is a good example of that herself.

From The Daily Beast

In the post-Kefauver era of the early 1950s, it had many advantages over its distant desert sister.

From The Daily Beast

The unit is used to attack foreign networks, and either it or a sister organization was involved in the Sony hack.

From The Daily Beast

She and her sister went into business together in 1997, opening Curve Salon after a career in media.

From The Daily Beast

To think,” said the younger Englishwoman to her sister, “of this wee mite travelling about in an open motor!

From Project Gutenberg

She and her younger sister, Janet, had quarreled a good deal through force of unfortunate habit.

From Project Gutenberg

“My sister is passionately fond of children,” said the elder lady, in smiling apology.

From Project Gutenberg

In the spring of 1868 he was taken by his mother for a visit to England, and there, in the same year, his sister was born.

From Project Gutenberg

A little boy had been quarrelling with his sister named Muriel just before going to bed.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• relative
• twin