What is the difference ?

[pennyb04]

Can anyone tell me in simple terms please, what is the difference between a half sister and a step sister?

[shaneystar2]

If you have a half sister this means you share one parent .So you could both have the same father but different mothers.
A step sister is not a blood relative.Supposing after a divorce one parent marries again to someone who already has a daughter....this daughter would become a step sister to the child of the previous marriage.

[shammydodger]

Half-sisters have one parent in common. Step-sisters do not.

[Pippa68]

This is correct.

One real big bugbear of mine are the people who believe that as long as the children share a mother they are full siblings, whilst if they share the same father they are 'half' or even 'step' siblings. I have known quite a few people with this belief (Mr Pippas ex wife for one).

I have two half siblings, but don't tend to use this term as I don't see them this way..they are my brother & sister :o)

[dot.hawkes]

In the census returns of the 19th century, in many cases the term sister-in-law (to the head of the household) has been recorded by the enumerator when in fact the person was actually a step-sister. This happened with brother-in-law/ stepbrother too. It would follow how the mistake came about in the mid 1800s, when many people could write their own name, but could not actually read sufficiently to fill in the census return, and the enumerator would do the filling in for them, and when they were asked about the relationship they would say sister-in-law, as the term step-sister seemed to be little used. It was not the case in many heavily populated areas that the enumerator would personally know the families, the way they may have done in rural areas, and so the enumerator was mostly just recording what he was told.

[pennyb04]

this is all great stuff, thanks folks.