aunt
English
Etymology
From Middle English aunte, from Anglo-Norman aunte, from Old French ante, from Latin amita (“father's sister”). Displaced native Middle English modrie (“aunt”) (from Old English mōdriġe (“maternal aunt”); compare Old English faþu, faþe (“paternal aunt”)).
Pronunciation
- enPR: änt, IPA(key): /ɑːnt/[1]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): [ɑːnt]
- (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): [äːnt], [ɐːnt]
- (Atlantic Canada, Tidewater, General South African) IPA(key): [ɒːnt]
- (New England) IPA(key): [ɑːnt], [aːnt]
- (AAVE) IPA(key): [äːnt], [ɑːnt]
- Rhymes: -ɑːnt
- Homophone: aren't (in some non-rhotic accents)
Audio (US) (file)
- enPR: ănt, IPA(key): /ænt/[1]
- (General American, Canada) IPA(key): [ænt], [ɛənt], [eənt]
- (Northern England, Ireland) IPA(key): [ant], [ænt]
- Rhymes: -ænt
- Homophone: ant
Audio (US) (file)
- (Scotland) IPA(key): /ant/, [änt]
- (New England) enPR: ônt, IPA(key): /ɔnt/[1]
- Rhymes: -ɔːnt
- (AAVE) enPR: ŭnt, IPA(key): /ʌnt/
- Rhymes: -ʌnt
- (Southern American English) enPR: ānt, IPA(key): /eɪnt/ [1]
- Rhymes: -eɪnt
- Homophone: ain't
Noun
aunt (plural aunts)
- The sister or sister-in-law of one’s parent.
- 1923, P.G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves:
- The female cousin or cousin-in-law of one’s parent.
- (endearing) A woman of an older generation than oneself, especially a friend of one's parents, by means of fictive kin.
- (obsolete) Any elderly woman.
- (obsolete) A procuress or bawd.
- c. 1605 (first performance; published 1608), Thomas Middleton, “A Trick to Catch the Old One”, in A[rthur] H[enry] Bullen, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton […] (The English Dramatists), volume II, London: John C. Nimmo […], published 1885, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, page 267:
- I saw neither hope of his reclaiming, nor comfort in his being; and was it not then better bestowed upon his uncle than upon one of his aunts?—I need not say bawd, for every one knows what aunt stands for in the last translation.
Synonyms
Hyponyms
- aunt-in-law
- co-aunt
- cousin-aunt
- double aunt
- grandaunt, great-grandaunt, great-aunt
- half aunt, maternal half aunt, paternal half aunt
- second aunt
- (sister of someone's father) paternal aunt
- (sister of someone's mother) maternal aunt
- stepaunt
Derived terms
- agony aunt, agony auntie, agony aunty
- auntcest
- auntdom
- Aunt Emma
- Aunt Flo
- aunt fucker
- aunthood
- aunticide
- Auntie
- auntie, aunty
- Auntie Beeb
- aunting
- aunt-in-law
- auntish
- Aunt Jane
- Aunt Jemima
- auntless
- auntlike
- auntly
- Aunt Minnie
- aunt nell
- auntness
- Aunt Sally
- auntship
- Aunt Thomasina
- auntyish
- auntyji
- co-aunt
- cousin-aunt
- double aunt
- grandaunt
- great-aunt
- great-grandaunt
- half aunt
- if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle, if my uncle had tits, he'd be my aunt
- kopi auntie, kopi aunty
- maiden-auntish, maiden-auntishness
- maternal aunt
- maternal half aunt
- mine aunt
- my aunt Fanny
- my giddy aunt
- my sainted aunt
- naunt
- paternal aunt
- paternal half aunt
- please excuse my dear Aunt Sally
- second aunt
- stepaunt
- step-aunt
- summon auntie
- uncle or aunt
- wine aunt
Related terms
Translations
Several languages distinguish between blood aunts (one's parent's sister) and in-law aunts (one's parent's sister-in-law), some distinguish between paternal and maternal aunts, and some distinguish between one's parent's older siblings and younger siblings.
a parent's sister or sister-in-law
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affectionate term for an older woman, by means of fictive kin
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also
References
- The Dialect Survey of US pronunciations, archived on November 20, 2008
Middle English
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