the.com/niece
the relative you can spoil rotten then hand back, guilt-free, to her parents.
means the daughter of one's brother or sister (or of one's spouse's brother or sister).
from From Old French "nièce," which traces back to Latin "neptis" — the feminine of "nepos," meaning grandchild, descendant, or nephew. That Latin root has deep cousins across the Indo-European family (Sanskrit "napat," Old English "nift"), all circling the same idea of a younger relative one step down the family tree. English borrowed the French form after the Norman Conquest, gradually edging out the native "nift."
word originFrom Latin neptis, once meaning granddaughter too.
royal loopholeMany monarchs named nieces heirs over distant sons.
sly historyNiece long disguised a powerful man's secret daughter.
aunt scienceAunts share roughly 25 percent of a niece's genes.