What is the term for two siblings born on the same calendar day, one or more years apart? I know there's a term, and I'd know it if I saw it, but I can't for the life of me remember it.
asked May 25, 2011 at 4:02
-
12"Cheated out of a birthday party", perhaps?– MT_HeadCommented May 25, 2011 at 4:31
-
5Man, you're tellin' me. My sister and I share a birthday, two years apart, meaning we shared presents and birthday parties all my life.– Jimmy SawczukCommented May 25, 2011 at 4:32
-
4I know there's a term —how do you know that?– DoriCommented May 25, 2011 at 6:25
-
1On the plus side, even though I had to share cakes and parties, my brother is 9 years older, and a baby sister who never broke or got lost is a terrible birthday present for a 9 year old boy.– thursdaysgeekCommented May 25, 2011 at 21:41
-
5Before answering this question, please see this meta question– nohat ♦Commented May 26, 2011 at 5:20
Add a comment
|
4 Answers
Aside from saying that you "share a birthday", I am not sure that such a term exists. If it does it isn't likely to be very well known. Restricting it to only match siblings is likely to make things less likely to match up perfectly.
Generally, special birthdays are given a modifier. Most of these are just off the cuff:
- holiday birthday
- shared birthday
- golden birthday
- half-birthday
Other words that could work apart from "shared":
- joint birthday
- combined birthday
You could also go the other way with it and accentuate the negative:
- split birthday
-
3I guess the Internet has spoken, whatever word I heard of for this was made up. Thanks! Commented May 26, 2011 at 17:16
-
1Discussion on meta notwithstanding, all words were at one time "made up". If this is not the place to do so, that doesn't mean you shouldn't feel free elsewhere.– user597Commented Feb 15, 2012 at 0:52
-
"Aside from saying that you "share a birthday", I am not sure that such a term exists." __ I am happy to award you the bounty @MrHen for your now-proved-very-correct intuition that no such word exists! [If such a word/ phrase existed I am satisfied that somebody would have posted it as an answer this week, particularly with the extra attention drawn to this question by posting a bounty.] Commented Oct 6, 2017 at 15:54
Are you thinking of "Irish twins"? It's not exactly what you were asking about, but it is the only relevant term I can think of that you might be referring to.
Irish twins are siblings who are close enough in age to be mistaken for twins. I would guess that the expression stems from a perception that Catholics have children in close succession.
-
Thanks for introducing an intriguing term I had never heard before, @PJB -- here in India I had 3 schoolmates around my own age, brothers who were born in 3 consecutive years -- I suppose that makes them Irish triplets according to the article you linked! Commented Oct 5, 2017 at 11:00
I might call them "yearlings", being a little cheeky.
Although the common usage is a foal between one and two years old, apparently there is a legit usage relating to a one year span:
Yearling (adjective): of a year's duration or standing
SOURCE: Dictionary.com
-
When there is no obvious term and these formidable scholars at ELU have not located any obscure term, a good measure of cheekiness is permitted; thanks @DukeZhou! Would you agree that English.SE and Literature.SE are topically mutually exclusive, as it seems to me? Commented Oct 5, 2017 at 19:14
-
@EnglishStudent I'd say English.SE is the place for grammar, usage, and etymology, whereas Literature.SE is the place for analysis of literary work, but possibly not entirely exclusive.– DukeZhouCommented Oct 5, 2017 at 19:19
-
"possibly not entirely exclusive" __ thank you: I was interested if there is any areas of overlap between these 2 sites in your experience, @Duke Zhou because I could find very very few references to literature here at ELU. Commented Oct 5, 2017 at 19:23
Having a sibling born 2 years to the day from me, I have searched for this term most of my life, but not found one. As such, and as language is merely an expression of randomly used phrases that come into popular acceptance, I decided to make up my own. As a play on the term "Irish Twin" for a sibling born in the same year, I refer to mine as my "Double Dutch twin".
