Advertisement
🇵🇹Portuguese Source WordCode: PT

irmã mais velha

Pronunciation / Transliteration: iɾˈmã majs ˈvɛʎɐ

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Big sister/ˈbɪɡ ˈsɪs.tər/
nounCEFR A2 (Elementary)Top #8500 frequency
Full Thesaurus
🇵🇹 Example Sentence in Portuguese:

"A minha irmã mais velha é médica."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    An older female sibling.

    "My big sister helped me with my homework after school."
  2. 2

    An older female mentor or role model, particularly in organized youth guidance programs.

    "She volunteered as a big sister to mentor young girls in her community."
Advertisement

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

The term combines the Old English adjective 'big' (of uncertain origin, possibly from Scandinavian roots) with 'sister', derived from Old English 'sweostor' and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *swestēr. The compound colloquial usage emerged in familiar domestic contexts to denote the older female sibling.

Quick Vocabulary Retention Check

Which of the following is the closest synonym for "Big sister"?

Advertisement
Thesaurus & Synonyms Graph

Explore Nuanced Synonyms for "Big sister"

Discover exact matches, context-specific alternatives, and antonyms with intensity ratings in the VocabDictionary Thesaurus.

View "Big sister" Synonym Map
Advertisement