Sister

A sister is a female sibling.

(Male siblings are called brothers.)

Sisterhood is the quality of being sisters. In the more general, figurative sense, it refers to female solidarity with other women. (E.g.: Sisterhood is powerful.) A sisterhood is also a name for an organisation comprised only of women, which can also be called a sorority. Due to the patriarchal marking of language, the synonym for brotherhood, fraternity, is overwhelmingly seen as a more generic term for solidarity than sorority is.

"Sister" is also a colloquial term used to refer to women, on a variety of linguistic levels (from the empowering to the patronising), and also to effeminate men.

Sisters, relatively speaking

Sisters in family units are female offspring who have male or female siblings. (Or intersexed siblings.) As opposed to being singletons.

Patriarchal laws of inheritance often bypass sisters in favour of their brothers.

See also

• Sister relationships
• Sisterhoods, or sororities

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