You can never give me, to anyone. You can however take me, and in different ways. I can be in "mother", "father", "brother", "sister", "son", "daughter" but never in "you". Who am I?

The clever wordplay in this riddle hinges on the versatile nature of a short, common word. The first clue, "You can never give me, to anyone," refers to how you cannot literally hand over a family relationship like a stepmother or stepbrother. These connections are formed through marriage and existing family structures, not as a direct bestowal. Conversely, "You can however take me, and in different ways," points to the physical act of moving forward by taking a step, or even taking a step in a process or decision.

The final set of clues provides the most direct hint. The word in question functions as a prefix, appearing before "mother," "father," "brother," "sister," "son," and "daughter" to denote a relationship formed through a parent's remarriage. For instance, a stepmother is the wife of one's father, but not one's biological mother. The absence of this prefix with "you" highlights that while you can be a step-parent or step-child to someone, the term isn't used to directly refer to "you" in the same relational manner.

Historically, the "step-" prefix in family terms comes from the Old English word "steop-," which had connotations of loss or bereavement, often associated with orphanhood. These terms originally referred to a child who had lost a parent and was then acquired by a new parent, or vice versa. Over time, as family structures evolved and blended families became more common, the meaning shifted to describe relationships formed through marriage rather than solely through the loss of a biological parent, making it a fascinating linguistic relic in our modern vocabulary.