Uncle: mother's brother or father's brother? (2024)

How can you recognize “uncle” is father's brother or mother's brother? (Is there any “default option”? )I'm willing to share the question below with you:https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/168493/how-can-you-recognize-uncle-is-fathers-brother-or-mothers-brother-is-there

English speakers use the general term uncle for both mother and father's side; however, you can specify it by "maternal uncle" (mother's side) or "Paternal uncle" (father's side).

I agree with Mustafa, you can specify it by adding maternal and paternal as a prefix, but it is not conventional to do so. Usually we take the hint from the context because in practice it is a bit awkward to specify the mother's or/and father's side.

There is no English term to differentiate from which side your uncle is from. It is what it is.

It is either you mother of father's brother. As mentioned we don't specify which parent's brother it is in English. However you could say "my uncle on my mother's side".

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