What is a double half-cousin?

Answer 1

Let's start small, break this into pieces, and work our way to the big picture; shall we?

Okay, a half-cousin is a person who only shares one grandparent with you. For example, if grandpa remarried to another woman and had your half-uncle (the half-brother of your parent), then your half-uncle's children would be your half-cousins.

All right, now a double cousin is like when two sisters marry two brothers. You and your double cousin share all of the same grandparents however you have two different parents, without it being incestuous. The only other way you could have all four of the same grandparents is if brothers were having children with their own sisters. But then, I suppose this would be more than double-cousins.

Now that we've pieced that together, can you see where I am going with this? A double half-cousin is when a half-sibling on your mother's side marries (or has sex with) a half-sibling on your father's side. The resulting offspring would be your double half-cousin. They are similar to first cousins, yet not quite the same relation.

Double cousins share all four grandparents whereas half-cousins only share a single parent. Double half-cousins share two grandparents, like do first cousins, but these two grandparents are on different sides of the family tree; meaning one is paternal and the other is maternal.

All these terms are quite semantic though. Family is family, to me. A cousin is a cousin, whether it really is an step-uncle, a neighbor, or an inbred hamster. What you call family (biological or not) should be the most important thing of all, regardless of its labels.

Answer 2

The child of your parent's cousin; the grandchild of your great-aunt or -uncle.

Answer 3

Your second cousin is the child of your parent's first cousin.

There is no such thing as a half-cousin, first, second or otherwise.