Sibbs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Brothers and sisters who share one or both parents, the plural form of the word sib meaning a sibling
2. Plural forms referring to the brothers and sisters of a family, from an older English term for a sibling
3. Groups of siblings, meaning the brothers and sisters who belong to the same family

Etymology: "Gossip" once meant a godparent. The Old English "godsibb" combined "god," meaning God, with "sibb," meaning kinship or relationship, so a godsibb was a spiritual relative. Over centuries the word drifted from the sponsor at a christening to the friends who gathered around a newborn's mother, and then to idle talk among them. "Sibb" itself came from Old English and meant kinship, relationship by blood or marriage, and also peace or friendship, a sense that survives in the Scots "sib." "Sibbs" is simply the plural of that noun, referring to several such relatives. The modern "sibling" is built on the same root, with the suffix "-ling" added.