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How do you differentiate between half-sister (you share one parent) and stepsister (no blood relation)?

I've seen both translated as une demi-sœur.

Stéphane Gimenez
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Mike M. Lin
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    For those unfamiliar with stepfamily (me, to start with), the “no blood” relation is due to remariage : one parent remaries with someone already having children — these are them. – Nikana Reklawyks Nov 16 '12 at 09:31
  • @Mike M. Lin c'est intéressant de voir que le français manque d'un mot pour cela, par contre on fait la différence entre "half-sister" partageant un père "soeurs consanguines", partageant une mère "soeurs utérines" et mêmes soeurs ayant juste partagé le même sein "soeurs de lait": voir http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/soeur et btb – P. O. Jul 07 '14 at 19:03
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    I don't think there's a word for it. Most of the time, when speaker really wants to insist on the difference, he would probably refer to "the child of my stepfather/stepmother" (no parent shared) or "my stepsister/stepbrother" (1 parent shared). Note that "stepfather"/"beau-père" used here could also mean "the father of my wife" in French, so it might lead to ambiguous discussions if you're married. – Laurent S. Aug 31 '15 at 09:12

4 Answers4

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I use to translate stepfamilly by famille par alliance, so I think you could use something like une soeur par alliance to translate stepsister.

Cédric Julien
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    Wikipedia seems to agree with the term *une sœur par alliance. An alternative given: une quasi-sœur. It also mentions that the term une demi-sœur* is sometimes used, but is incorrect. – Mike M. Lin Jun 03 '12 at 02:56
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Simply put there is no such thing as a "stepsibling" in French kinship terms. More accurately, if demi-soeur/frère is used that way (like we use beau-père/belle-mère for both stepparents and in-laws), I do not know of it.

I'm sure people who HAVE stepsiblings (it just so happen that I only have a half-sister and do not know people with stepsiblings) have strategies to discuss it. Myself I usually say I have two sisters, THEN specify one is a half-sister, since I consider both my sisters (from an interpersonal point of view, not a genealogical one).

Circeus
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Most people who share affection with their step-sibling will consider them as their demi-frère/soeur and use this term, myself included. However, the problem lies in the bounds within the family.

Elena Mellor
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half-sister : demi-soeur

stepsister : belle-soeur

hpchavaz
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