FAMILY in sign language

Printable ASL sign for FAMILY
Printable

ASL signs for family

Learn some family-related terms and the signs for relatives in American Sign Language.

Meaning: A basic social unit made up of parents and their children.

Pronunciation/articulation: Two-handed "F" handshape (palm out) with the thumb-forefinger circles together diverge in an arc movement and converge with the pinkies.

Non-SEE sign. Some signers choose to replace the F-handshaped sign FAMILY.

Family signs

Vocabulary for the immediate family unit in a FAMILY TREE: MOTHER, FATHER, CHILDREN, DAUGHTER, SON.

More vocabulary for the extended members of a family: GRANDPARENT who spoils you, well, in a good way to show you how special you are, GRANDMOTHER who gave you a knitted sweater for Christmas, GRANDFATHER who gives you a $20 monthly allowance, GRANDCHILD when you're really old enough to have one.

Vocabulary for RELATIVES: AUNT who bought you new shoes for your graduation, UNCLE whose eyeglasses broke when rough-playing with you when you were kid, COUSIN who showed you his new video game.

More vocabulary for STEPFAMILY, BLOODLINE.

Related links

Curious what Deaf family and hearing child of Deaf parents are like in a family home where all family members and, in some cases, extended Deaf family members like grandparents, cousins, and aunts or uncles manually speak their natural language as native signers?

About 90% of deaf population are born to hearing parents, language acquisition depends on how their parents choose the avenue, whether they decide to acquire the signed language along with their deaf children or not. In most cases, deaf children learn sign language through deaf peers and at deaf schools or later in Deaf community.

For many Deaf people, Deaf community is part of their life, especially in the old days where many Deaf considered their Deaf clubs a second home. But, time has changed in the 21st century with technologies and the Internet.

First 100 words.

  1. again
  2. also
  3. ask
  4. bad
  5. boy
  6. but
  7. can
  8. come
  9. deaf
  10. different
  11. drink
  12. drive
  13. eat
  14. email
  15. excuse
  16. family
  17. feel
  18. few
  19. find
  20. fine
  21. fingerspell
  22. finish
  23. food
  24. for
  25. forget
  26. friend
  27. get
  28. girl
  29. give
  30. go
  31. good
  32. have, has, had
  33. he
  34. hearing
  35. hello
  36. help
  37. home
  38. how
  39. Internet
  40. know
  41. later
  42. like (feeling)
  43. little
  44. live
  45. man
  46. many
  47. me
  48. meet
  49. more
  50. my
  51. name
  52. need
  53. new
  54. no
  55. not
  56. now
  57. ok, okay
  58. old
  59. other
  60. please
  61. remember
  62. same
  63. say
  64. school
  65. see
  66. she
  67. should
  68. sign, signed word
  69. slow
  70. some
  71. sorry
  72. store
  73. take
  74. tell
  75. text, sms
  76. thank, thank you
  77. their
  78. they
  79. think
  80. time
  81. tired
  82. try
  83. understand
  84. use
  85. wait
  86. want
  87. what
  88. when
  89. where
  90. which
  91. who
  92. why
  93. will
  94. with
  95. woman
  96. work
  97. write
  98. yes
  99. you
  100. your

As you feel more comfortable with the first few hundreds of ASL signs, progress further with your vocabulary and learn signing more.