"my second cousin twice removed" what does thant mean?

Question

i dont uderstand what the "twice removed" thing means

Answer 1

You have been given some excellent answers, but it does get confusing after a few generations. Here is a concrete example:

Alice and Albert are brother and sister.

Alice is the mother of Betty, who is the mother of Carol, who is the mother of Delta, who is the mother of Ellie.

Albert is the father of Barry, who is the father of Charles, who is the father of Doug, who is the father of Elmer.

Alice.....Albert......siblings
Betty.....Barry.........first cousins
Carol.....Charles.....second cousins
Delta.....Doug.........third cousins
Ellie......Elmer........fourth cousins

Carol and Elmer are second cousins twice removed.
Charles and Ellie are also second cousins twice removed.

Betty and Doug, Barry and Delta are first cousins twice removed. Betty and Elmer, Barry and Ellie are first cousins removed three times. Delta and Elmer, Doug and Ellie are third cousins once removed.

Answer 2

A second cousin is your great aunt and great uncle (your grand parents siblings) childrens children.

A twice removed means that it is your second cousin's grandkids.

If you think about it in a hierachy... The first set of chidlren are first cousins. The chidren of first cousins are second cousins. (down the line.. it keeps a children to children relationship).

This will sound funny but here is an analogy to help with the removed part..

If you are a cat and a dog is your cousin... The your kittens and the dog's puppys are first cousins... Now lets say that the puppys never have any other children... but the kittens have children of their own (now we have grand-kittens). The puppy's will always be first cousins but each time the kittens have kids the new set of offspring become a "removed". Because they are moving down the hierachy further away from the original cousins.

Removed is hard to explain without a visual so I'm sorry but I probably confused you even more. :)

Answer 3

Twice removed means that he is the grandson of a second cousin. First cousins are children of siblings. Their children are are second cousins to each other, but first cousins once removed to the original first cousins.

The second cousins' children would be third cousins to each other but first cousins twice removed to the original first cousin generation.

Answer 4

"Removed" is used to refer to a relative that's separated by a given degree of descent:

My second cousin is my first cousin's child, same as my first cousin once removed.

My second cousin once removed would be my second cousin's child, so "my second cousin twice removed" would be my second cousin's granchild.

Phew!
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