What does la familia nuclear mean?

Question

Hola! I'm learning family vocabulary, and one of the expressions in my textbook says "La familia nuclear" and it gives the english translation as: Nuclear family

Does anyone know what nuclear family is?

Answer 1

Nuclear Family: the family unit. For example: Mother, Father, two sisters, one brother. It does not include uncles, aunts, cousins, or grandparents. It does include what we might say is the 'immediate family'.

Hope this helps.

I should add, I was just listening to a native Spanish speaker talk about this today - on a podcast from 4 years ago (from Spain), and she said 'we don't use that phrase'. Perhaps it is used more outside of Spain, then. - yahvey_hoffman, Sep 7, 2012

Gracias por tu ayuda! era muy util! - 00fd5b5c, Sep 7, 2012

El placer es mio. - yahvey_hoffman, Sep 8, 2012

Answer 2

It may refer to the Simpsons (see image below)

However, the term may be turned around. It should be "el núcleo familiar", which should translate as household or immediate family members.

I hope this helps!