What does the term cousin twice removed etc actually mean??
Your first cousin’s grandchild. Your cousin is your aunt or uncle’s child with whom you share a pair of grandparents. Each removal is another generation of descendence from your cousin. Your (first) cousin’s child is your first cousin once removed (which, incidentally, is your child’s second cousin, with whom he or she shares a common pair of great-grandparents). Your (first) cousin’s grandchild is your first cousin twice removed, is your child’s second cousin once removed, and is your grandchild’s third cousin, with whom he or she shares a common pair of great great grandparents. If you draw this out, it may make more sense. People in the same generation will be on the same horizontal line. First cousins, second cousins and third cousins will all be in the same generation as one other, but second cousins will be on the line below first cousins, and farther apart. Likewise with third cousins, who will be on the line below than, even further apart. Anybody once removed is in the next ge
It’s simple, really. “Removed” means that your cousin is not of the same generation as you. In other words, you don’t have two of the same grandparents. For example, your mothers’ first cousin (a child of her aunt’s or uncle’s) is your first cousin once removed. Similarly, your grandmother’s first cousin is your first cousin twice removed.
