Aunt - Wiktionary

English

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Etymology

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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”)). The digraph ⟨au⟩ representing /æ ~ ɑː/ instead of the expected /ɔː/ is irregular, and has not been conclusively explained (compare launch, which contains /ɑː/ in some UK dialects).

Pronunciation

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• enPR: änt, IPA(key): /ɑːnt/[1]
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): [ɑːnt]
  • (General American) IPA(key): [ɑnt]
  • (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): [äːnt], [ɐːnt]
  • (Atlantic Canada, Tidewater, SAE) IPA(key): [ɒːnt]
  • (New England) IPA(key): [ɑːnt], [aːnt]
  • (African-American Vernacular) IPA(key): [äːnt], [ɑːnt]
  Rhymes: -ɑːnt Homophone: aren't (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], [änt], [ænt]
  Rhymes: -ænt Homophone: ant

  Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Scotland) IPA(key): /ant/, [änt]
• (New England) enPR: ônt, IPA(key): /ɔnt/[1] Rhymes: -ɔːnt
• (African-American Vernacular) enPR: ŭnt, IPA(key): /ʌnt/ Rhymes: -ʌnt
• (Southern US) enPR: ānt, IPA(key): /eɪnt/ [1]
• Rhymes: -eɪnt Homophone: ain't

Noun

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aunt (plural aunts)

1. The sister or sister-in-law of one’s parent.
   • 1923, P.G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves:As a rule, you see, I'm not lugged into Family Rows. On the occasions when Aunt is calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps and Uncle James's letter about Cousin Mabel's peculiar behaviour is being shot round the family circle... the clan has a tendency to ignore me.
2. The female cousin or cousin-in-law of one’s parent.
3. (endearing) A woman of an older generation than oneself, especially a friend of one's parents, by means of fictive kin.
4. (obsolete) Any elderly woman.
5. (obsolete) A procuress or bawd.
   • c. 1604–1606 (date written; 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.The spelling has been modernized.

Usage notes

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Aunt is capitalized when it is used as a title with a name: Have you written to Aunt Jane?

Synonyms

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• auntie, aunty (diminutive)
• auntyji (India, as a respectful term of address)
• naunt (nonstandard, proscribed, dated)

Antonyms

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• (with regard to gender) uncle
• (with regard to ancestry) niece, nephew

Hypernyms

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• (sibling of someone's parent) auncle, pibling (nonstandard)

Hyponyms

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• aunt-in-law
• co-aunt
• cousin-aunt
• double aunt
• grandaunt, great-grandaunt, great-aunt
• half aunt, maternal half aunt, paternal half aunt
• (sister of someone's mother) maternal aunt
• (sister of someone's father) paternal aunt
• second aunt
• stepaunt

Derived terms

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• agony aunt, agony auntie, agony aunty
• auntcest
• auntdom
• Aunt Edna
• 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
• Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt
• 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
• 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
• wouldn't call the Queen my aunt

Related terms

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• tante

Descendants

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• → Hawaiian: ʻanakē
• → Irish: aint
• → Pennsylvania German: Aent
• → Yoruba: àǹtí

Translations

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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

Abinomn: nyebak Afrikaans: tante (af) Albanian: teze (sq), emtë (sq), hallë (sq) Aleut: tuutkax̂, quliigix̂ Altai: Southern Altai: эје (eǰe) Alutor: ыссэ (əsse) Amharic: ኣከስት (ʾakäst) Arabic: (father's sister) عَمَّة (ar) f (ʕamma), (mother's sister) خَالَة (ar) f (ḵāla), (wife of father's brother) زَوْجةُ العَمّ (zawjatu l-ʕamm); (wife of mother's brother) زَوْجةُ الخال (zawjatu l-ḵāl) Aramaic: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: (father's sister) ܥܲܡܬܵܐ f (ʿamtā), (mother's sister) ܚܵܠܬܵܐ f (ḥāltā), (wife of father's brother) ܒܲܟ݂ܬ ܥܲܡܵܐ f (baḵt ʿamā); (wife of mother's brother) ܒܲܟ݂ܬ ܚܵܠܵܐ f (baḵt ḥālā) Armenian: հորաքույր (hy) (horakʻuyr) (paternal), մորաքույր (hy) (morakʻuyr) (maternal), քեռակին (hy) (kʻeṙakin) (in law) Assamese: পেহী (pehi), জেঠাই (zethai), মাহী (mahi), খুৰী (khuri), বৰমা (boroma) Asturian: tía (ast) f Aukan: tanto, tiya Azerbaijani: xala (az), bibi (az) Bakhtiari: (paternal) کچی (keči) Basque: izeba (eu), izeko (eu), ttantta (northern,familiar) Belarusian: цётка f (cjótka), цёця f (cjócja) Bengali: (mother's sister) খালা (bn) (khala)/মৈ (bn) (mōi), (father's sister) ফুফী (phuphi)/ফুফু (bn) (phuphu), (wife of father's brother) চাচী (caci), (wife of mother's brother) মামী (bn) (mami), মাসী (maśi), মাসীমা (maśima), কাকিমা (kakima), কাকি (kaki), খুড়ি (bn) (khuṛi) Bhojpuri: काकी (kākī) Breton: moereb (br) f Bulgarian: ле́ля (bg) f (lélja) Burmese: ဒေါ်ကြီး (my) (dau-kri:) (elder sister of one's father or mother), ကြီးတော် (my) (kri:tau) (mother's elder sister), ဒေါ်လေး (my) (daule:) (younger sister of one's father or mother), အဒေါ် (my) (a.dau) (younger sister of one's mother), ထွေးလေး (my) (htwe:le:) (mother's younger sister), ထွေးတော် (my) (htwe:tau), အရီး (my) (a.ri:) Carpathian Rusyn: тю́̈тка f (tjú̈tka) Catalan: tia (ca) f Chichewa: bambo wamkazi (father's sister), mayi (mother's sister), mayi wamkulu (mother's older sister), mayi wamng'ono (mother's younger sister) Chinese: (father's sister): 姑 (zh) (gū), 姑媽 / 姑妈 (zh) (gūmā), 姑姑 (zh) (gūgu), 姑母 (zh) (gūmǔ) (father's elder brother's wife): 伯母 (zh) (bómǔ), 大娘 (zh) (dàniáng) (father's younger brother's wife): 叔母 (zh) (shúmǔ), 嬸母 / 婶母 (zh) (shěnmǔ), 婶母 (zh) (shěnmǔ), 嬸嬸 / 婶婶 (zh) (shěnshen), 婶婶 (zh) (shěnshen) (mother's sister): 姨 (zh) (yí), 姨媽 / 姨妈 (zh) (yímā), 阿姨 (zh) (āyí), 姨母 (zh) (yímǔ); (mother's brother's wife): 舅母 (zh) (jiùmǔ), 舅媽 / 舅妈 (zh) (jiùmā), 妗母 (zh) (jìnmǔ), 妗子 (zh) (jìnzi) Cantonese: 姑媽 / 姑妈 (yue) (gu1 maa1) (father's elder sister), 姑姐 (yue) (gu1 ze1) (father's younger sister), 伯娘 (baak3 noeng4) (father's elder brother's wife), 阿嬸 / 阿婶 (aa3 sam2) (father's younger brother's wife), 姨媽 / 姨妈 (yue) (ji4 maa1) (mother's elder sister), 阿姨 (aa3 ji4-1) (mother's younger sister), 舅母 (yue) (kau5 mou5) (mother's brother's wife) Mandarin: Chinook Jargon: kwalh Cornish: modrep Czech: teta (cs) f Danish: tante (da), faster (da) (father's sister), moster (da) (mother's sister) Dusun: Central Dusun: inai Dutch: tante (nl) f Esperanto: onklino (eo) Estonian: tädi (et) Ewe: (paternal) tasi, te, (mother's elder sister) dagã, nɔgã, (mother's younger sister) daɖia, nɔɖi Faroese: fastir f (paternal), mostir f (maternal) Finnish: täti (fi) (paternal or maternal, sometimes in-law) French: tante (fr) f, tatie (fr) f (informal), matante (fr) f (Quebec, informal) Old French: ante f, aunte f Frisian: Saterland Frisian: Möie f West Frisian: muoike (fy) c Friulian: agne f Galician: tía f Georgian: დეიდა (ka) (deida), მამიდა (ka) (mamida) German: Tante (de) f Greek: θεία (el) f (theía) Ancient Greek: θεία f (theía), τηθίς f (tēthís) Greenlandic: aja (maternal), atsa (paternal) Gunwinggu: berluh (paternal), karrang (mother's younger sister), morlah (mother's older sister) Hamer-Banna: aaká (mother's older sister), indá (mother's younger sister), mishá (father's sister) Hawaiian: makuahine, ʻanakē Hebrew: דּוֹדָה (he) f (dóda) Hindi: बूआ (hi) f (būā) (father's sister), मौसी (hi) f (mausī) (mother's sister), चाची (hi) f (cācī) (wife of father's younger brother), मामी (hi) f (māmī) (mother's brother's wife), ताई (hi) f (tāī) (wife of father's elder brother) Hungarian: nagynéni (hu) Icelandic: frænka (is) f Ido: onklino (io) Indonesian: bibi (id), tante (id) Ingrian: täti Irish: aintín f Istriot: gnagna f Italian: zia (it) f Japanese: おば (ja) (oba), (younger than one's parent): 叔母 (ja) (おば, oba), (older than one's parent): 伯母 (ja) (おば, oba) Jeju: (father's sister): 고모 (gomo) (mother's sister): 이모 (imo) (father's brothers' wives): 큰어멍 (keuneomeong) (older brother), ᄆᆞᆮ삼촌어머니 (mawtsamchoneomeoni) (older brother), 족은어멍 (jogeuneomeong) (youngest brother), 셋어멍 (seseomeong) (second brother), 말젯어멍 (maljeseomeong) (third brother of four or more) (mother's brother's wife): 웨숙모 (wesungmo) Kambaata: lankaama Kapampangan: dara Kashmiri: پۄپھ (ks) (pọph) (father's sister), پیٚچھَنؠ (ks) (pechan') (father's brother's wife), ماس (ks) (mās) (mother's sister), مامَنؠ (ks) (māman') (mother's brother's wife) Kazakh: апа (apa), апай (kk) (apai) Khoekhoe: antis Kis: omoigwa Korean: (father's sister): 고모(姑母) (ko) (gomo) (mother's sister): 이모(姨母) (ko) (imo), 이모님(姨母) (imonim) (honorific) (father's older brother's wife): 백모(伯母) (ko) (baengmo) (eldest brother), 백모님(伯母) (baengmonim) (eldest brother, honorific), 둘째어머니 (duljjaeeomeoni) (second (older or younger) brother), 중모(仲母) (jungmo) (second (older or younger) brother), 큰어머니 (ko) (keuneomeoni), 큰어머님 (keuneomeonim) (honorific), 큰엄마 (keuneomma) (children's speech), 큰어미 (keuneomi) (non-polite, lowering) (father's younger brother's wife): 숙모(叔母) (ko) (sungmo), 숙모님(叔母) (sungmonim) (honorific), 작은어머니 (ko) (jageuneomeoni), 작은어머님 (jageuneomeonim) (honorific), 작은엄마 (ko) (jageuneomma) (children's speech), 작은어미 (jageuneomi) (non-polite, lowering), 삼촌댁(三寸宅) (ko) (samchondaek) (lowering) (mother's brother's wife): 외숙모(外叔母) (oesungmo), 외숙모님(外叔母) (oesungmonim) (honorific), 외삼촌댁(外三寸宅) (oesamchondaek), 구모(舅母) (gumo) Krisa: wini (paternal), moni baʼ (mother's elder sister), moni pung (mother's younger sister) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: پوور (ckb) (pûr) Northern Kurdish: xaltî (ku), met (ku) Southern Kurdish: میمِگ (mîmig) Latgalian: cjoceite Latin: amita (la) (paternal), mātertera (la) (maternal), thia Latvian: tante, (paternal) tēva māsa, (maternal) mātes māsa Lithuanian: teta f Luhya: senge Luxembourgish: Tatta (lb) f Macedonian: тетка (mk) f (tetka) Malay: Brunei Malay: babu Jawi: امق ساودارا, مق چيق, تنتى Rumi: emak saudara, mak cik, tante (ms) Malayalam: അമ്മായി (ml) (ammāyi), (colloquial) മേമ (mēma), മാമി (ml) (māmi), (father's elder sister) വല്യമ്മ (valyamma), (father's younger sister) ചെറിയമ്മ (ml) (ceṟiyamma) Maltese: zija (mt) f Manchu: (father's elder brother's wife) ᠠᠮᡠ (amu), (mother's elder sister) ᠠᠮᠪᡠ (ambu), (mother's elder brother's wife) ᠨᡝᡴᠴᡠ (nekcu) Māori: whaea kēkē, whaene (neologism), matua kēkē (genderless) Marathi: (mother's sister) माउशी f (māuśī), (mother's sister-in-law) मामी (mr) f (māmī), (father's sister) आत्या f (ātyā), (father's sister-in-law) काकी f (kākī) Mari: Eastern Mari: ака (aka) Mazanderani: پرخا (perxā) Meriam: apu Middle English: aunte Miyako: (younger than one's parent) ブバ (buba), (older or younger than one's parent) ブバマ (bubama) Mòcheno: moa'm f Ngarrindjeri: barno Norman: tànte f (Guernsey), tante f (Jersey) Norwegian: Bokmål: tante (no) m or f, faster (no) m or f (paternal), moster m or f (maternal), morsøster m or f (maternal, archaic) Occitan: tanta (oc) f Ohlone: Northern Ohlone: 'ansik Old English: mōdriġe f (mother's sister), faþu f (father's sister) Oromo: adaadaa Pannonian Rusyn: андя f (andja), нина f (nina) Pashto: ترور (ps) f Pennsylvania German: Aent f, Aendi f Persian: Iranian Persian: (paternal) عَمِّه (amme), (maternal) خالِه (xâle), دایْزِه (dâyze), کاکی (fa) (kâki) Plautdietsch: Mumm f, Taunte f Polish: ciotka (pl) f, ciocia (pl) f, wujenka (pl) f (wife of mother's brother), stryjenka (pl) f (wife of father's brother) Portuguese: tia (pt) f Romani: bibi f Romanian: mătușă (ro) f Russian: тётя (ru) f (tjótja), тётка (ru) f (tjótka) (colloquial), тётушка (ru) f (tjótuška) Sami: Northern Sami: (mother's elder sister) goaski, (mother's younger sister) muoŧŧá, (father's sister) siessá, (parent's or their sibling's cousin's wife) ipmi Skolt Sami: sieˊss (paternal) Sanskrit: (father's sister) पितृव्या f (pitṛvyā) Sardinian: tzia f, tia f Scottish Gaelic: piuthar-athar f (paternal), piuthar-màthar f (maternal), antaidh f Serbo-Croatian: teta (sh) (Croatia) Cyrillic: тетка f, (regional) хала f, (maternal in-law) ујна f, (paternal in-law) стрина f Latin: tetka (sh) f, (regional) hala (sh) f, (maternal in-law) ujna (sh) f, (Bosnia) daidžinca f, (paternal in-law) strina (sh) f, (Bosnia) amidžinca f Seri: aac Sicilian: zia (scn) f Sidamo: la'lama Sinhalese: නැන්දා (nændā) Slovak: teta (sk) f Slovene: teta (sl) f Somali: eddo Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: śota f Spanish: tía (es) f Sudovian: mosa f Sundanese: ébé Swahili: shangazi (sw) Swedish: faster (sv) c (paternal), moster (sv) c (maternal), tant (sv) c (in-law) Tagalog: tita (tl), tiya, tiyahin Tamil: அத்தை (ta) (attai) (paternal), சித்தி (ta) (citti) (younger), பெரியம்மா (ta) (periyammā) (elder), மாமி (ta) (māmi) Telugu: (paternal) అత్త (te) (atta), (maternal) పిన్ని (te) (pinni), పెదమ్మ (te) (pedamma), (maternal, in-law) అత్త (te) (atta) Thai: ป้า (th) (bpâa) (parent's elder sister), อา (th) (aa) (father's younger sister), น้า (th) (náa) (mother's younger sister) Tibetan: སྲུ་མོ (sru mo) (maternal), ཨ་ནེ (a ne) (paternal) Turkish: hala (tr), bibi (tr), eme (tr) (paternal), teyze (tr) (maternal), yenge (tr) (in-law) Turkmen: daýza Ukrainian: ті́тка (uk) f (títka), тьо́тя f (tʹótja), цьоця f (cʹocja), ву́йна f (vújna), ву́йчина (vújčyna), тета f (teta), цьо́тка f (cʹótka), вуянка f (vujanka), стри́йна f (strýjna) Urdu: خالَہ f (xāla) (maternal), ماسی f (māsī), پھوپھی f (phophī) (paternal) Venetan: amia (vec) f, àmeđa f, àmeda f, àmia f Vietnamese: cô (vi) (paternal), dì (vi) (maternal) Volapük: jiter (vo), zian (vo) Walloon: matante (wa) f Welsh: modryb (cy) f Yámana: tanowa-kipa Yiddish: מומע f (mume) Yoruba: ẹ̀gbọ́n màmá mi obìnrin (mother's older sister), ẹ̀gbọ́n bàbá mi obìnrin (father's older sister), àbúrò màmá mi obìnrin (mother's younger sister), àbúrò bàbá mi obìnrin (father's younger sister) Zazaki: ām, xale (diq)

great-aunt or grandaunt — see great-aunt,‎ grandaunt grandmother — see auntie,‎ grandmother affectionate term for an older woman, by means of fictive kin

Aramaic: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܵܠܬܘܿ f (ḥālto), ܐܲܢ݇ܬܬܘܿ f (atto) Armenian: հորաքույր (hy) (horakʻuyr), մորաքույր (hy) (morakʻuyr) Bengali: মাসী (maśi) Burmese: ဒေါ် (my) (dau), မ (my) (ma.) (for younger women) Catalan: tia (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 阿姨 (zh) (āyí) Czech: teta (cs) f Dutch: tante (nl) f Estonian: tädi (et) Finnish: täti (fi) Georgian: დეიდა (ka) (deida) German: Tante (de) f Hungarian: néni (hu) Ingrian: minni Italian: zia (it) f Japanese: おばさん (ja) (obasan) Jeju: 아지망 (ajimang), 아주망 (ajumang) Korean: 아주머니 (ko) (ajumeoni), 아줌마 (ko) (ajumma) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: خاتۆ (xato), خان (ckb) (xan) Latvian: tante Malay: makcik (ms) Marathi: काकू f (kākū), माउशी f (māuśī) Norwegian: Bokmål: tante (no) m or f, filletante m or f Portuguese: tia (pt) f Russian: (colloquial) тётя (ru) f (tjótja) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: тета f Latin: teta (sh) f Slovene: teta (sl) f Spanish: tía (es) f Swedish: tant (sv) c Tamil: அத்தை (ta) (attai) Thai: ป้า (th) (bpâa) Turkish: teyze (tr) Yoruba: àǹtí

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

Breton: (1,2,3,4) (please verify) moereb (br) f, (children's language) (please verify) tintin (br) f Guarani: Paraguayan Guarani: (please verify) sy'y, (2) (please verify) sy kypy'y Indonesian: (please verify) bibi (id), (please verify) tante (id), (please verify) tanta Interlingua: (please verify) amita Lithuanian: (1) (please verify) teta f Polish: ciocia (pl) f Romanian: (please verify) mătușă (ro) f Sorbian: Upper Sorbian: (please verify) ćeta (hsb) Telugu: (please verify) పిన్ని (te) (pinni), (please verify) పెదమ్మ (te) (pedamma), (please verify) అత్త (te) (atta) Tibetan: (please verify) ཡ་ནི (ya ni), (please verify) སུ་མོ (su mo) Vietnamese: (please verify) cô (vi), (please verify) thím (vi) Woiwurrung: (please verify) bum boora, (please verify) girrin

See also

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• materteral

References

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1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Dialect Survey of US pronunciations, archived on October 20, 2007

Further reading

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• aunt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

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• -naut, Tuna, naut., tuan, tuna

Middle English

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Noun

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aunt

1. alternative form of aunte