The following are family terms used in the Filipino languages… Note that some terms have many variations. It is because Philippines have 100+/- local tribal groups and 170+ local languages are spoken. But generally, I’ll be using the Filipino/Tagalog terms unless indicated otherwise.

Furthermore, the pronunciation is largely based on the presence of the vowels in a syllable. For example a word with the: /a/ vowel is pronounced similar to "father"; /e/ vowel is pronounced similar to "red"; /i/ vowel is pronounced similar to "bit"; /o/ vowel is pronounced similar to "toy"; and /u/ vowel is pronounced similar to "flute"


family – pamilya (Spanish origin: familia)

grandparent - apong (Ilocano term for grandparents)

grandfather – lolo, apong lakay (Ilocano term for lolo)

grandmother – lola, apong baket (Ilocano term for lola)

grand child – apo

parent – magulang

father – ama, tatay, itay, tatang, papa or papang or just pang, daddy, papi or popsie (slang of papa), dadoods (slang for daddy)

mother – ina, nanay, inay, inang, nanang, mama or mamang or just mang, mommy, mamsie (slang for mama or mommy)

sibling - kapatid or utol (street term for sibling)

big (older) brother – kuya, manong (this can also be used as a polite term for any male older than the speaker)

big (older) sister – ate, ateng, manang (this can also be used as a polite term for any female older than the speaker)

younger sibling – ading (in ilocano); In Ilonggo, a younger male sibling is Toto and a younger female sibling is Inday youngest sibling – bunso

stepmother - madrasta (well, this has Spanish origin)

mother- or father-in-law – biyenan

sister-in-law – hipag

brother-in-law – bayaw

son- or daughter-in-law – manugang

sibling's spouse to another sibling's spouse - bilas

uncle – tiyong, tio, tito (this term is also used for one’s friend’s father)

auntie – tiyang, tia, tito (this term is also used for one’s friend’s mother)

cousin – pinsan, insan, casinsin (in Ilocano), ig-agaw (in Cebuano)

godfather – ninong, maninoy (in Ilonggo)

godmother – ninang, maninay (in Ilonggo)

godchild – inaanak, ihada (in Ilonggo)

godparent's children to a godchild - kinakapatid. This is the term used for the children of one's godparents. It somewhat means "almost a sibling"


You might notice that there's a difference between the words for male and female. Basically, a male will have the letter |o| and the female will have the letter |a|. For example, "tito" and "tita", or "ninong" and "ninang", or "lolo" and "lola."

It was noted above that a big brother is called “kuya” while a big sister is called “ate”. These two terms became the accepted general terms for an older sibling but there are different terms for sibling hierarchy used by some Filipino families which was largely derived from the Chinese terms for numbers.

Sibling Hierarchy

Eldest brother - Kuya (from Chinese word “Co” meaning elder brother and “a” which denotes kinship)

Second older brother – Diko (from Chinese word “Di” meaning second and “co” meaning brother)

Third older brother – Sangko (from Chinese word “Sang” meaning third and “co” meaning brother)

Fourth older brother – Siko (from Chinese word “Si” meaning fourth and “co” meaning brother)

Eldest sister – Ate (from Chinese word “Che” meaning elder sister and “a” which denotes kinship)

Second older sister – Ditse

Third older sister – Sanse

Fourth older sister – Sitse

In Filipino families, there is an amount of respect and deference given to the elder siblings and it is based on the sibling’s ordinal position. The youngest sibling or “bunso”, on the other hand, is rarely punished and sometimes spoiled.