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Sibling

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Sibling is a generic term meaning brother or sister; that is, someone who shares a father and a mother with the person being referenced. Generally, this means that the two people are very closely genetically related, though, in the case of adoption, this isn't necessarily the case.

A brother is a male who shares a father and a mother with the person being referenced. A sister is a female who shares a father and a mother with the person being referenced.

In most world societies, siblings usually grow up in the same household. This closeness usually means they develop intense feelings about one another - whether love or enmity. However, closeness may not always develop in sibling relationships, particularly between siblings with an age difference of five years or more.

A step-sibling (step-brother or step-sister), is a sibling to whom you bear no blood relation, but one of whose parents has remarried to one of yours; see stepfamily.

A half-sibling (half-brother or half-sister) is a sibling with one shared 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 step-siblings 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 step-siblings.

See also