IELTS

Family and growth - IELTS lexical resource category

IELTS vocabulary and collocations for family and growth topics. These could be useful for related letters, essays or even speaking exam topics. At the end, there is also a spelling test.

Zu Pixels

Feb 26, 2023 • 3 min read

Photo by Tyler Nix / Unsplash

Vocabulary

Period/phase/stage

Childhood
Puberty
Adolescence: Teenage years
Adulthood

Growth stages

Newborn: A baby who is under one or two months old.
Infant: A baby of age 12 months or less.
Toddler: A child who is beginning to walk. Typically between the ages of 1 and 3 years.
Baby: A child who is either a newborn, infant or toddler.
Child
Tween: Child between 10 and 13
Teenager/Adolescent: Around high school age.
Young adult: Around college age
Adult
Midlife adult (middle-aged): Around 35 -64
Senior citizen/old-timer/elder: Around 65 and older

Marital status

Partner: Spouse OR boyfriend/girlfriend
De facto partner: When you and your partner live together as a couple, but are not married.
Engaged
Married
Separated: Not together anymore, but still married legally
Divorced: Not married anymore
Widow/Widower/Widowed: Someone whose spouse died and they haven't remarried

Immediate family

Parents: Mother and Father
Sibling: Sister or brother
Child: Daughter or son
Spouse

Extended family

Everyone who isn't part of your immediate family. Along with the following, this may also include family members by marriage.

Aunt: A sister of your parent
Uncle: A brother of your parent
Great-aunt: A sister of your grandparent
Niece: Your sibling's daughter
Nephew: Your sibling's son
Cousin: A child of your aunt or uncle
Grandparents: The parents of your parents
Great-grandmother: The mother of your grandparent
Great-great-grandfather: The father of your great-grandparent

Family members by marriage

Stepmom: Your father's wife who isn't your biological mother
Stepfather
Stepdaughter
Stepbrother
Mother-in-law: Your spouse's mother
Parents-in-law
Son-in-law

Other

Relative: A family member related to you by blood/marriage
Ancestor: A family member from the far past that you descend from
Generation: A group of similar age (born roughly around the same interval)
Retired
Adopted: Taken in legally by a new family
Foster parents: Parents taking care of a child without legal parental rights
Foster mom:
Fraternal twins: ]Twins who aren't necessarily identical. They are simultaneously in the whom but originated from two separate fertilized eggs.
Identical twins: Twins who look identical. They came from the same fertilized egg that split into two.
Triplets: Three babies from the same mother, born at the same time.
Surrogate: A woman who gives birth to a child for someone else.
Godmother: A lady who assists at a child's baptism
Character/Nature/Personality/Temperament
Bond/Connection/Ties/Relation/Relationship
Interaction
Upbringing
Inherit
Nurture: Care or protect
Accommodate
Milestone
Nanny/Au pair/Governess
Fully-grown
Geriatrics: Relating to old people

Collocations

Family dynamics (patterns and factors that shape their interactions and roles)
Family lineage (a list of linked descendants of different generations of a particular ancestor)
Family gathering
Family outing
Maternal instinct
Sibling rivalry
Play an active role
Stable upbringing
Striking resemblance
Family surname
Maiden name (a woman's parents' surname)
To raise a family
Strong/close family ties
Close-knit family
Give the baby up for adoption
Due date
Bring up a child

Idioms

Idioms related to resemblance or other common traits:

Runs in the family
To take after someone
A chip off the old block
Like father, like son
The apple does not fall far from the tree
To be the spitting image of someone
To follow in one's parent's footsteps

Other:

To be someone's flesh and blood
To be the apple of someone's eye (someone who is more cherished)

Spelling test

Play the word, type the spelling, validate and repeat till done. Note that capital letters are not considered during validation.

Please note: Does not work on a mobile device.

Correct!