What do people mean when they refer to a family member as once or twice removed.?

Answer 1

They are usually a second or third cousin.

Answer 2

It means they're one or two generations away (respectively). For instance, if your cousin has a child, than that child is your first cousin, once removed. (and your cousin's parents are also first cousins, once removed, be you call them something else, aunt and uncle.) If your cousin's child grows up and has a child of his/her own, that child is your cousin, twice removed.

Back to your cousin's kid...if you have a kid, those two kids are from the same generation, but they would be second cousins, because you have to go back two generations to reach the point when the parents (in this case, grandparents), were siblings.

Answer 3

When the word "removed" is used to describe a relationship, it indicates that the two people are from different generations. You and your first cousins are in the same generation (two generations younger than your grandparents), so the word "removed" is not used to describe your relationship.

The words "once removed" mean that there is a difference of one generation. For example, your mother's first cousin is your first cousin, once removed. This is because your mother's first cousin is one generation younger than your grandparents and you are two generations younger than your grandparents. This one-generation difference equals "once removed."

Twice removed means that there is a two-generation difference. You are two generations younger than a first cousin of your grandmother, so you and your grandmother's first cousin are first cousins, twice removed.

Answer 4

I just learned this as well. My mother is the youngest in her family and so is my father. My mother is the younest of 5 and my father is the youngest of 9. What happens is that when my father was born, a few years later his oldest brother had kids and by the time those kids grew up, they had kids before my own dad had his own. Huge age gaps in parents and their siblings cause this.

Answer 5

i met my cousin over the summer and my friends told me she is my once cousin removed. i think its this:

my dad's sister got married to a widower(male widow i think). he had lost his wife in a car accident. before she died they got a kid(boy). that kid is now like 41. he got married and now they have 2 daughters who are now my cousins once removed.

now remember. im not for sure

Answer 6

Usually its meant for a cousin. A frist cousin is your aunts child. A second cousin is your cousin's child and so forth and so on.

Answer 7

i think it means when there was a divorce and you still consider yourself related to the non-blood relative