Word Usage – How to Recognize If an ‘Uncle’ Is Father’s Brother or Mother’s Brother?

kinship-termsword-usage

Sometimes the speaker (or author) specifies their meaning for the word "uncle", for example:

The gelding was mine, a gift from a great-uncle on my mother’s side. (Educated by Tara Westover)

But suppose that you read about someone's uncle in a certain text and the writer doesn't mention if the uncle is:

  • their father's brother
  • or their mother's brother
  • or their father's sister's husband
  • or their mother's sister's husband

How can you recognize which one is the "uncle"?

Basically, is there any "default option" in the absence of a certain answer?

PS: In some languages like Albanian, Arabic, Persian, and Polish, unlike the English language, no single inclusive term describing both a person's kinship to their parental male sibling or parental male in-law exists. Instead, there are specific terms describing a person's kinship. For example, the Persian language has a special word for the uncle of the father side (amou-عمو) and the uncle of the mother side (daiyee-دایی)

*This postscript was added after some fine answers had been offered.

Best Answer

You can't. There is no "default". If it's not clearly stated, you have to ask. Generally, if it's not clarified in the text, it's probably not important.

This may seem odd from the point of view of someone coming from a language where the difference is part of the terminology used but as with many familial terms like grandmother/father, cousin, or nephew, only the direct relationship in English is there without adding modifiers.

  • My mother's mother -> my grandmother on my mother's side or maternal grandmother
  • My father's brother -> my uncle on my father's side or paternal uncle
  • My father's brother's son -> my cousin who is the son of my father's brother

It gets a bit wordy but, there you have it. We don't really have a better way of doing it.

When it comes to aunts and uncles by marriage - the spouse of your parent's brother or sister - one might use "uncle-in-law" but (as a native American English speaker) this seems silly and would likely be something I would only do when joking or teasing that person... and it still doesn't solve the problem of whether it's your father's or mother's sibling's spouse.

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