First cousin, second cousin, third cousin .......

English translation: See explanation

00:47 Sep 4, 2004
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. / Common
English term or phrase: First cousin, second cousin, third cousin .......
I know first cousin. That's your parents' brother/sister's children. But then who are the second and third and so and so forth? I must confess I am not good at math. These things are truly confusing to me.
Someone please clarify that in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS.
I recently met a lady who claims she is Jessie James' fourth cousin, and she explained her relationship with that notorious train and bank robber of Frontier days American West.
I got lost before she finished her story!!
humbird
Selected answer:See explanation
Explanation:
I'm not very good at math, either, Susan. Maybe this will help.
---
The word cousin is used loosely to refer to any relative of the same generation, other than brothers and sisters. Your first cousins are the children of your parents' brothers and sisters. Your second cousins are the children of your parents' first cousins; their children will be third cousins to your children.
The term removed can be used when referring to the children or parents of cousins. Your first cousins' children are your first cousins once removed, their children will be your first cousins twice removed. Your second cousins' parents are your second cousins once removed, their parents are twice removed, and so on.
It is seldom necessary to specify the exact relationship; in everyday use any cousin's children are called simply nieces and nephews and their parents uncles and aunts. The term cousin-in-law, to refer to your partner's cousins or your cousins' partners, exists but is seldom used. It is just as easy, and more specific, to say my husband's cousin or my cousin's wife.
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/english/data...
Selected response from:

Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 22:45
Grading comment
Thank you Kim. Sorry it's not full score. Please see my additional question note however. This term seems to be used way to loose to me.
2 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
5 +5Parents' siblings' children, Grand Parents' siblings' grand children & so on..
Ramesh Madhavan
4 +3See explanation
Kim Metzger
5 +1See other explanation below
Deborah Workman


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
first cousin, second cousin, third cousin .......
See explanation


Explanation:
I'm not very good at math, either, Susan. Maybe this will help.
---
The word cousin is used loosely to refer to any relative of the same generation, other than brothers and sisters. Your first cousins are the children of your parents' brothers and sisters. Your second cousins are the children of your parents' first cousins; their children will be third cousins to your children.
The term removed can be used when referring to the children or parents of cousins. Your first cousins' children are your first cousins once removed, their children will be your first cousins twice removed. Your second cousins' parents are your second cousins once removed, their parents are twice removed, and so on.
It is seldom necessary to specify the exact relationship; in everyday use any cousin's children are called simply nieces and nephews and their parents uncles and aunts. The term cousin-in-law, to refer to your partner's cousins or your cousins' partners, exists but is seldom used. It is just as easy, and more specific, to say my husband's cousin or my cousin's wife.
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/english/data...


Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 22:45
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 26
Grading comment
Thank you Kim. Sorry it's not full score. Please see my additional question note however. This term seems to be used way to loose to me.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Refugio: And that fourth cousin of Jesse James must have been a few times removed.
13 mins

agree  Giulia Barontini: with Ruth ;-))
12 hrs

agree  jebeen
22 hrs
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +5
first cousin, second cousin, third cousin .......
Parents' siblings' children, Grand Parents' siblings' grand children & so on..


Explanation:
Your parents' siblings' children are your First Cousins.
Your Grand parents' siblings' grand children are your Second Cousins.
Your Great-grand parents' siblings' great grand children are your Third Cousins.

That is how the 'family tree' grows!

Hope this helps :-))

Ramesh Madhavan
Local time: 10:15
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in TamilTamil

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  senin
3 hrs
  -> Thanks senin.

agree  Mihailolja: That's the best explanation Ramesh
3 hrs
  -> Thanks Mihailolja.

agree  Alfa Trans (X)
5 hrs
  -> Thanks Marju.

agree  Giulia Barontini: 8-D arghhh!!!
7 hrs
  -> Thanks. Have you stopped to consider how confusing it can become if some of them had two or more spouses? :-))))

agree  Orla Ryan
14 hrs
  -> Thanks Orla
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23 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
first cousin, second cousin, third cousin .......
See other explanation below


Explanation:
First, second and third is by generation

Thus the children of your parents' brothers and sisters are your first cousins -- you are the first generation from that line.
Your children and your first cousins' children are second cousins. They are the second generation from the "reference" generation.
Contrary to the other explanation offered here, your third cousins are the children of the of the second generation -- i.e., the third generation from the "reference" generation. They are third cousins of one another. They are not third cousins of any of the second cousins or any of the first cousins.

Now. How do you refer to a cousin who is not in your generation but is in another generation? They are your X cousin Y times removed. So, the children of your first cousins are your first cousins, too,but they are your first cousins once removed, because they are one generation different. Their children are your first cousins twice removed, because they are two generations different. The same for "removing" second and third cousins.

So, to find out whether they are first second or third cousins, first find the "reference" generation, then count each band of generations down from it. Everyone in the same generation is first or second or third but never mixed.

The "movement" of generations is not relative to the "reference" generation but the person in the first or second or third generation. You count the movements up or down from that generation to determine the relationship.

I hope this is more helpful than confusing.

I've got a lot of cousins and have been through this exercise many, many times!

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Note added at 27 mins (2004-09-04 01:15:12 GMT)
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The claim to be a fourth cousin of someone isn\'t much of a claim. I think they say that all of us are related to one another in some way once you get past fourth cousins!

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Note added at 20 hrs 5 mins (2004-09-04 20:52:52 GMT) Post-grading
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Yes, it goes either direction. Again, the generation is counted from the \"reference\" generation and the removal is counted up or down from the person you are trying to position across the generations.

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Note added at 20 hrs 16 mins (2004-09-04 21:03:18 GMT) Post-grading
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Two people have the same relationship up, down or across. Think of two siblings, a man and a woman. They each get married and have children. Their children, who are the first generation following, are first cousins to one another (across families, of course, not within their own nuclear family!). When they have children, their children who are the next generation, all the children of that generation will be second cousins to one another. But the first cousins will always be first cousins, and when they refer to the offspring of their first cousins, they will be first cousins once removed, and the offspring of those offspring will be first cousins twice removed. And because of that \"first\" lineage, that is the relationship each party has to the other regardless of generation. Likewise, anyone in that second generation will count parents or children of the second generation as their own second cousin once removed; they never stop being a second cousin of that line. Parents stay parents, grandparents stay grandparents, aunts and uncles stay aunts and uncles of an individual, but everyone else is a cousin first by generation and then by their \"relative\" position within, above, or below that generation.

Deborah Workman
United States
Local time: 00:45
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Giulia Barontini: Yes, dear cousin!
12 hrs
  -> ;-) Who is planning our next family reunion?
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