How can I say "big brother" or "big sister"?

Question

I have learned that fratineto and frateto are used for little sister and little brother. What about big sister and big brother? Fratinego and Fratego sounds strange to me.

Answer 1

I disagree that frat(in)eto is the only or even the best way to say "little brother/sister." What I say is (mal)granda frat(in)o.

A quick check in the Tekstaro (checking only "Zamenhofaj" texts) shows that forms with granda are more common, and it seems that forms with -et- usually refer to younger siblings who are still small, or it's used as a caress form.

Checking the Tekstaro for adjectives used immediately before "frat-" suggests a few good aleternatives.

• pli juna fratino
• maljuna fratino
• la malgrandan fratinon
• ia malgranda fratino
• viajn plej maljunajn kaj plej junajn fratinojn;
• La plej aĝa frato
• liaj du pli aĝaj fratoj.
• mia malgranda fratino

And even

• mia malgranda frateto

My recomendation - any variation with aĝa or granda is fine. Juna works too.

Answer 2

It is not routine for the concept to be compressed into one word; people generally say pli aĝa and malpli aĝa (pli juna) frat(in)o.

However, -eto and -ego do appear in print and they seem perfectly fine to me, a very sensible and appropriate use of those suffixes, particularly if relative age is socially important (e.g. in East Asia). So if you are hunting for a single word then feel free to say fratego, fratinego, etc.

Answer 3

Estas proverbo Pliaĝa frato estas dua patro do big brother estas pliaĝa frato.

There is a proverb Pliaĝa frato estas dua patro (Big brother is second father) so big brother is pliaĝa frato.