Cousin or niece? Although I speak English for over 20 years now, at times, I find myself struggling with the simplest things. It may be because I learn something, then, somewhere along the way I pick up new information and, being so eager to be correct, I absorb it blindly. This happened with our familiar "cousin". It is a simple word we learn in elementary as part of the family vocabulary. Yet, later on, my ears picked that it should be niece for girl-cousins. And ever since I wasn't sure anymore. But today I will give my brain a break, check this and ask for your opinion about it. My research concludes: Cousin means the child of an ancestor sibling, a direct relative like an uncle and aunt. A niece is the daughter of a person's brother or sister. Cousin can be either male or female, while niece only refers to a female, a direct sibling daughter. Pretty clear, huh? Crystal, I would say. I won't go into who whispered that "niece" might be the feminine version of a cousin- daughter of an aunt and uncle, not because I don't remember (which I obviously don't), but rather because there's is no point. This is my lesson learned that if I am unsure of something, I can always check it or ask our community and set the record straight right. Thank you in advance.