cousin

Meanings

Plural: cousins

Noun

the child of your aunt or uncle
Chiefly with a qualifying word: Any relation (especially a distant one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person's extended family; a kinsman or kinswoman.
Preceded by an ordinal number, as first, second, third, etc.: a person descended from a common ancestor by the same number of generations as another person.
Chiefly with a qualifying word: Any relation (especially a distant one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person's extended family; a kinsman or kinswoman.
When used without a qualifying word: the child of a person's parent's brother (that is, an uncle) or sister (an aunt); a cousin-german, a first cousin.
Chiefly with a qualifying word: Any relation (especially a distant one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person's extended family; a kinsman or kinswoman.
A person of an ethnicity or nationality regarded as closely related to someone of another ethnicity or nationality.
Used as a term of address for someone whom one is close to; also, (preceding a first name, sometimes capitalized as Cousin) a title for such a person.
Used by a monarch to address another monarch, or a noble; specifically (British) in commissions and writs by the Crown: used in this way to address a viscount or another peer of higher rank.
Something kindred or related to something else; a relative.
A female sexual partner who is not a person's wife; specifically, a prostitute.
A person who is swindled; a dupe.
A person who womanizes; a seducer, a womanizer.

Verb

To address (someone) as "cousin".
To regard (oneself or someone) as a cousin to another person.
To associate with someone or something on a close basis.
To visit a cousin or other relation.

Origin / Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English cosin, cosine, cosyn (“blood relative, kinsman or kinswoman; any relative; nephew or niece; first cousin; grandson or granddaughter; descendant; godchild or godparent, or a relative of a godchild or godparent; (figurative) closely related or similar thing”) [and other forms], and then:
* from Anglo-Norman cosen, cosin [and other forms], Middle French cosin, and Old French cosin (“collateral male relative more distant than one’s brother; form of address used by a monarch to male monarchs or nobles”) [and other forms] (modern French cousin); and
* from Anglo-Norman cosine, Middle French cosine, and Old French cosine (“collateral female relative more distant than one’s sister; form of address used by a monarch to female monarchs or nobles”) [and other forms] (modern French cousine),
from Latin cōnsobrīnus (“maternal cousin; first cousin; relation”) (possibly through Vulgar Latin *cōsuīnus, from *cōsobīnus), from con- (prefix denoting a bringing together of several objects) + sobrīnus (“maternal cousin; sister’s son; any nephew”) (from a noun use of Proto-Italic *swezrīnos (“of or belonging to a sister”, adjective) (with the first syllable influenced by Latin soror (“sister”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr (“sister”), possibly from *swé (“self”) + *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”) (that is, a woman of one’s own blood) or *-sōr (feminine suffix)).
The verb is derived from the noun.

Synonyms

chump, chumpion, cousin, cousin-german, cull, cully, dotterel, dupe, easy mark, fall guy, first cousin, fish, full cousin, gudgeon, gull, juggins, live one, mark, mug, muggins, pigeon, rube, sap, saphead, schlemiel, sheep, simp, Simple Simon, soft touch, steamer, stiff, stooge, sucker

Scrabble Score: 8

cousin is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
cousin is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
cousin is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

cousin is a valid Words With Friends word