Our kinship terms such as "cousin, uncle, aunt, etc." are simply not clear enough to define the relationships people have in other cultures. "Uncle" doesn't explain if he is my father's brother, or my mother's brother, and that clarity is necessary if we are to understand other kinships.

Yet that clarity can take up a lot of space in writing, so use the following abbreviations:

fa father

bro brother

son son

husb husband

mo mother

sis sister

dau daughter

wi wife

As a result of using the abbreviations given above, you would describe how ego is related to a relative as mo,br (mother's brother), not "uncle".