Cousin Relationship Calculator
Cousin relationship calculator — work out first cousin once removed, second cousin twice removed and more, from a family path or from each person's distance to the common ancestor. Shows the degree-and-removal diagram, in English, Chinese (堂/表) and Malay. Runs in your browser.
Cousin Relationship Calculator
Example: your father's brother's son is father → brother → son (a first cousin).
How to Use the Cousin Relationship Calculator
Choose a mode
"From a relationship" lets you build the family path step by step. "From the common ancestor" lets you enter how many generations each person is from the ancestor you share.
Enter the family link
Build a path like "father → brother → son", or type the two generation distances — a grandparent is 2, a great-grandparent is 3.
Read the answer
You get the exact term — first cousin, second cousin once removed — with a common-ancestor diagram and the degree and removal worked out step by step.
Switch language
See the relationship in English, Chinese (堂 same-surname vs 表 other line) or Malay (sepupu, sepupu sekali). The Chinese form asks which side the common ancestor is on.
"First Cousin Once Removed", Finally Explained
Few family terms cause as much confusion as "first cousin once removed". People reach for it whenever a cousin feels a bit distant, and just as often confuse it with "second cousin". The two are genuinely different, and the difference comes down to two simple numbers measured against the common ancestor that two people share. This calculator works those numbers out for you — either from a family path you build, or directly from the generation distances — and shows the result in English, Chinese and Malay.
Degree and removal, in plain terms
The cousin degree — first, second, third — is one less than the number of generations from the nearer of the two people up to the shared ancestor. Share a grandparent (two generations up) and you are first cousins; share a great-grandparent (three up) and you are second cousins. The removal is simply the difference between how far each person stands from that ancestor. If you are two generations from your common ancestor and your relative is three, you are "once removed" — one generation out of step. So your parent's first cousin, and your first cousin's child, are both your first cousin once removed: same degree, one generation apart. A second cousin, by contrast, is in your own generation and shares a great-grandparent with you.
Degree counts how far back the shared ancestor is; removal counts the generation gap between the two of you. Two numbers, and the mystery is gone.
The same idea across three languages
English describes cousins with degree and removal; other languages frame the same family fact differently. Chinese distinguishes whether the shared ancestor is on the paternal, same-surname line — 堂 (tóng) — or any other line, including the maternal side — 表 (biǎo); the calculator asks which, then labels the relationship accordingly. Malay keeps it simple: a cousin is sepupu, and a removal adds sekali, dua kali and so on. Switch the output language to see the same two people named in each tradition. Everything is computed in your browser with a small built-in engine — nothing about your family is sent anywhere.
10 Facts About Cousins & Removals
Your cousin degree is one less than the generations to the shared ancestor.
"Removed" counts a generation gap, not emotional or family distance.
First cousins share a grandparent; second cousins, a great-grandparent.
Your parent's first cousin is your first cousin once removed.
A second cousin is in your generation and shares a great-grandparent.
Removal is symmetric — it doesn't matter which cousin is older.
Chinese marks the ancestor's line: 堂 (same surname) vs 表 (other line).
Malay calls any cousin sepupu; a removal adds sekali, dua kali.
If one distance is zero it's a direct line, not a cousin relationship.
This calculator runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Frequently Asked Questions
- It is a first cousin who is one generation apart from you. Your parent's first cousin, and your first cousin's child, are both your first cousin once removed. "Removed" counts the generation gap between you, not how distant the family feels.
- A second cousin is in your own generation and shares a great-grandparent with you. A first cousin once removed shares a grandparent through one of you and sits one generation apart. The diagram in the tool shows the difference clearly.
- Degree = (the shorter distance to the common ancestor) − 1. Removal = the difference between the two distances. For example, distances of 2 and 3 give degree 1 (first cousin) and removal 1 (once removed). The calculator does this for you.
- "From a relationship" lets you build the family path (father → brother → son). "From the common ancestor" lets you type how many generations each person is from the ancestor you share. Both give the same kind of answer with a diagram.
- Chinese distinguishes whether the shared ancestor is on the paternal, same-surname line (堂) or any other line, including the maternal side (表). The tool asks which line the common ancestor is on and labels the cousin accordingly.
- Malay uses "sepupu" for a first cousin, and adds a removal with "sekali" (once), "dua kali" (twice) and so on. It is a simpler system than English, without a separate word for each degree.
- Yes. If the numbers describe a parent and child, a grandparent, siblings, or an aunt/uncle and niece/nephew, the tool says so rather than forcing a cousin label — those are direct-line or aunt/uncle relationships, not cousins.
- No. The removal is the difference between the two generation distances, so it is the same whichever person you start from. "First cousin once removed" describes the pair, in both directions.
- No. Every calculation runs in your browser on a small built-in engine — nothing about your family is uploaded to a server or third party. It works offline once the page has loaded.
- Completely free, with no account, sign-up, or usage limit. It runs entirely in your browser and collects no data. Use it as much as you like.
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