Do you refer to half-siblings as ‘step-siblings’?

[pitsoffashion]

Just curious because I have noticed in a lot of threads regarding blended families so so many posters will refer to a child’s ‘step-sister’ or ‘step-brother’ despite the children in question sharing one biological parent.

I have a half-brother (same mum) and wouldn’t refer to him as a step-brother because we are biologically siblings. I don’t often even say half-brother really, just brother. I feel like calling him a step-sibling is just factually incorrect.

I just wondered if this varies and if some people see half and step interchangeable when children only share one parent.

Nope they're called my brother and sisters.
Likewise mine and dhs own children and our children together all call each other their brother / sister

I have two ‘half’ sisters (same mum) and one ‘half brother’ (same dad.)

I never refer to any of them as ‘step’ siblings as my understanding is step are no blood relation at all but rather kids your parents new partner already had. My sisters are just my sisters as we grew up together, my brother sometimes I will refer to as my ‘half’ brother as I don’t see or mention him much so people are like ‘who?’ When I mention him.

That winds me up as the difference is obvious and easy to remember. You see it a lot on here. I do hate the term half sibling too, my dad had a brother and whenever he said ‘my brother’ my mum would add in ‘half brother’ - just unnecessary until describing a situation and wanting to make it clear different parent.

I've had people refer to half siblings in my family as step siblings on many occasions and it's annoying. I've also seen it done on here.

It's an entirely different kind of relationship and anyone who thinks they are interchangeable is an idiot but idiots unfortunately exist.

Major bugbear for me, totally different relationship! In fact, our own children are only 'half' our children really. I call my siblings I was brought up with 'my siblings' even though we share 1 common parent, not 2. I call the children of my stepfather who I met at aged 12 by their name, not sibling, stepsibling or anything else and I have no relationship with them since their father died 11 years ago. Totally different if we'd been brought up together from babies and shared a childhood. IME siblings who share a Mother tend to be closer as they are brought up together in the same family from birth.

Generally, I just say brother or sister when referring to mine (I have a half brother and have had step siblings in the past).

But if for any reason I needed to specify the relationship then I wouldn’t use step and half interchangeably as they mean different things.

When I met my DH he already had an 8 year old DS (split from ex partner when he was 2). We eventually had our own children and they just refer to him as their older or big brother. They know biologically he’s only a half brother but he’s always just been referred to as their brother

I say half. A lot of people really struggle with the distinction though as, I think, they perceive it as you are either full siblings or you’re not (hence why they jump to step sibling). For me, I didn’t grow up with my half-sibling so I refer to them as such but I know people who did grow up together who find the half distinction annoying as they feel as they are nothing but siblings (fair!) but to say someone is a step-sibling when they are half is equally annoying in my book.

I would never call my semi-sibs step but whether I call them my half brother/sister or my brother/sister depends on circumstances. There is a 25+ year gap and we have never lived in the same house so they are distinct in my head from my full sibs. who I grew up with. If you ask me if I have any siblings nine times out of ten I will say 2 as that was the case for more than half my life and then I will add oh and four semi-sibs. My DH on the other hand never makes that distinction with his brother as he can't remember a time before him and he doesn't have a relationship with his biological father so he calls his (step) dad Dad, they are very much a family unit whereas as my father's ex and current wives and their children don't feel like part of my family (their choice).

I have 3 children. Two from my first marriage and one from my current. They all lived together completely from day 1. My first husband died so no complications for them.
The word 'step' or half has never been said by any of us ever and unless they tell people no one knows they have different fathers.
As far as they or us are concerned they are brothers and sisters.

This.

I have a half brother but he is just my brother!

My Mum remarried and her husband has 2 children much younger than me. I just refer to them as my Mums step children or her partners children - we’ve never even lived in the same house! Would feel odd to call them a step siblings as we just don’t have that kind of relationship.

My husband grew up with his step siblings and refers to them as step brothers and his half sister as his sister.

I don’t think people do this in real life, and they don’t tend to use ‘half’ u less it’s necessary for some reason eg medical history. But it’s often confusing to work out who is who when people post on an internet forum

But it's incorrect to say 'Step-sister' just because you hate her, if you do in fact share a biological parent. You could hate your biological father but that wouldn't make him your step-father!

No a step sibling is completely different from a half sibling.
Having said that I have half siblings but to be they are just siblings.

I call my half siblings half siblings and my brother my brother. I'd never call them step as that's factually incorrect

On mn it's seems the story usually goes - I've had a baby , who is half sibling, to the op's step child.
So the dh's child is the step child and the half sibling.

Think that's where the confusion lays.

my sister in law often gets this wrong. She isn’t very clever in general.

i do genealogy and often refer to this chart

DH’s ex insists on referring to our DC as her DC’s ‘step’ siblings, even though they are half.

I have half siblings and steps we've all
Been together since childhood I call them
My siblings and would only say if they were half or step to explain the situation to people

Me and my sister have different dads but I never refer to her as my half sister, it even sounds weird. But...we grew up with our mother. Some people I know who didn't grow up in the same house as their half sibling often refer to them as a half sibling

Our 4 do this
It's lovely
But they saw a lot of each other growing up.

Siblings born to the parent you live with would be siblings to me even though I know they’re technically half. Born to parent you don’t live with would be half. Born to step parent. Step. But I do hate my children being described as half siblings to each other as to me and them they’re just siblings.