Siblings

Hello all,

What's the most common way to call your siblings who were born before and after you? Do you use adjectives for size (big and little) or age (older and younger)?

For example, what would you use in this case?

- [ This is my older sister ] OR [ This is my big sister ]
- [ This is my younger sister ] OR [ This is my little sister ]

What if your younger sister was bigger than you? Would you still call her "my little sister"? Or what if your older sister was very short? Would you call her "my big sister"?

Any ideas?

It depends on the context. If you're an adult I'd go with 'younger/older'. "Big/little' sounds kind of childish.

I only have younger siblings, and I prefer to call them "little".

I have a younger brother. I stopped calling him my "little" brother a few years ago; however, it's not unheard of for a 50 year old to call his 49 year old brother his "little" brother.

So in this context younger=little and older=big.

It IS weird when your "little" sister is taller than you!

I still call my younger brother my "little" brother- and I won't embarrass myself by telling you how old we are! It depends on the context- "little" would not be appropriate in formal circumstances. "Little" definitely connotes a level of affection which is absent from the more clinical "younger".