いとこ

(2 entries)
Alternative writings: 従兄弟, じゅうけいてい
JLPT:N3
Frequency:

1Cousin — the child of one's aunt or uncle. In speech, いとこ covers cousins of any gender and is normally written in kana. The kanji spelling encodes gender and relative age: 従兄弟 for a male cousin (従兄 if older, 従弟 if younger), 従姉妹 for a female one. Read with its on'yomi as じゅうけいてい it means specifically a male cousin, but that is stiff, document-style Japanese and virtually never heard in conversation.

NounUsually Kana

Examples

私にはいとこが五人いる。

I have five cousins.

夏休みは、いつも田舎のいとこの家に泊まりに行っていた。

Every summer vacation, I used to go stay at my cousin's house in the countryside.

いとこの結婚式に招待されて、久しぶりに親戚が集まった。

I was invited to my cousin's wedding, and the relatives all got together for the first time in ages.

彼とは年が離れているけれど、実はいとこ同士なんです。

There's a big age gap between us, but we're actually cousins.

母方のいとこは、みんな関西に住んでいる。

My cousins on my mother's side all live in the Kansai area.

Word Relationships

Synonyms