aunt

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)

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.

Synonyms

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

Antonyms

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

Hypernyms

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

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
• summon auntie
• uncle or aunt

 

Descendants

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

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

Abinomn: nyebak Afrikaans: tante (af) Albanian: teze (sq), emtë (sq), hallë (sq) Alutor: ыссэ (əsse) Amharic: ኣከስት (ʾakäst) Arabic: (father's sister) عَمَّة‎ (ar) f (ʿamma), (mother's sister) خَالَة‎ (ar) f (ḵāla), (wife of father's brother) زَوْجةُ العَمّ‎ (zawjatu l-ʿamm); (wife of mother's brother) زَوْجةُ الخال‎ (zawjatu l-ḵāl) Armenian: հորաքույր (hy) (horakʿuyr) (paternal), մորաքույր (hy) (morakʿuyr) (maternal), քեռակին (hy) (kʿeṙakin) (in law) Assamese: পেহী (pehi), জেঠাই (zethai), মাহী (mahi), খুৰী (khuri), বৰমা (boroma) 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) Asturian: tía (ast) f Azerbaijani: xala (az), bibi (az) Bakhtiari: (paternal) کچی‎ (keči) Basque: izeba (eu), izeko (eu) Belarusian: цётка f (cjótka), цёця f (cjócja) Bengali: (mother's sister) খালা (bn) (khala)/মৈ (bn) (moi), (father's sister) ফুফী (phuphī)/ফুফু (bn) (phuphu), (wife of father's brother) চাচী (cacī), (wife of mother's brother) মামী (mamī), মাসী (masī), মাসীমা (masīma), কাকিমা (kakima), কাকি (kaki), খুড়ি (khuṛi) Breton: moereb (br) f Brunei Malay: babu 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:) Catalan: tia (ca) f Central Dusun: inai Chichewa: bambo wamkazi (father's sister), mayi (mother's sister), mayi wamkulu (mother's older sister), mayi wamng'ono (mother's younger sister) Chinese: Cantonese: 姑媽 (yue), 姑妈 (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 (yue), 姨妈 (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: (father's sister): 姑 (zh) (gū), 姑媽／姑妈 (zh), 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), 婶母 (zh) (shěnmǔ), 嬸嬸／婶婶 (zh), 婶婶 (zh) (shěnshen) (mother's sister): 姨 (zh) (yí), 姨媽／姨妈 (zh), 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), 舅妈 (zh) (jiùmā), 妗母 (zh) (jìnmǔ), 妗子 (zh) (jìnzi) Chinook Jargon: kwalh Cornish: modrep Czech: teta (cs) f Danish: tante (da), faster (da) (father's sister), moster (da) (mother's sister) 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) Friulian: agne f Galician: tía f Georgian: დეიდა (ka) (deida), მამიდა (ka) (mamida) German: Tante (de) f Greek: θεία (el) f (theía) Ancient: θεία f (theía), τηθίς f (tēthís) Greenlandic: aja (maternal), atsa (paternal) Gunwinggu: berluh (paternal), karrang (mother's younger sister), morlah (mother's older sister) Hawaiian: makuahine, ʻanakē Hebrew: דּוֹדָה‎ f (dóda) Hindi: बूआ (hi) f (būā) (father's sister), मौसी (hi) f (mausī) (mother's sister), चाची (hi) f (cācī) (father's brother's wife), मामी (hi) f (māmī) (mother's brother's wife), फूफी (hi) f (phūphī) (father's sister) Hungarian: nagynéni (hu) Icelandic: föðursystir (is) f (paternal), móðursystir (is) f (maternal) Ido: onklino (io) Indonesian: bibi (id), tante (id) Sundanese: ébé 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 (kk) (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 (ku) (pûr) Northern Kurdish: xaltî (ku), met (ku) Southern Kurdish: میمِگ‎ (mîmig) Latgalian: cjoceite Latin: amita (la) (paternal), mātertera (la) (maternal) Latvian: tante, (paternal) tēva māsa, (maternal) mātes māsa Lithuanian: teta f Luhya: senge Luxembourgish: Tatta (lb) f Macedonian: тетка (mk) f (tetka) Malay: Rumi: emak saudara, mak cik, tante Jawi: امق ساودارا‎, مق چيق‎, تنتى‎ Malayalam: അമ്മായി (ml) (ammāyi), (colloquial) മേമ (mēma), മാമി (ml) (māmi), (father's elder sister) വല്യമ്മ (valyamma), (father's younger sister) ചെറിയമ്മ (ml) (ceṟiyamma) Maori: whaea kēkē, whaene 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) 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) Northern Ohlone: 'ansik 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 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 Old English: módrige f (mother's sister), faþu f (father's sister) Old French: ante f, aunte f Oromo: adaadaa Pashto: ترور‎ (ps) f Pennsylvania German: Aent f, Aendi f Persian: (paternal) عمه‎ (fa) ('amme), (maternal) خاله‎ (fa) (xâle), دایزه‎ (fa) (dāyze), کاکی‎ (fa) (kāki) 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) Rusyn: тю́̈тка f (tjú̈tka) Sanskrit: (father's sister) पितृव्या f (pitṛvyā) Saterland Frisian: Möie f Scottish Gaelic: piuthar-athar f (paternal), piuthar-màthar f (maternal), antaidh f Serbo-Croatian: teta (sh) (Croatia) Cyrillic: тетка f, (maternal in-law) ујна f, (paternal in-law) стрина f Roman: tetka (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) Skolt Sami: sieˊss (paternal) 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 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) Venetian: 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 West Frisian: muoike (fy) c Yiddish: מומע‎ f (mume) Yámana: tanowa-kipa 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

great-aunt or grandaunt — see great-aunt,‎ grandaunt

grandmother — see auntie,‎ grandmother

affectionate term for an older woman, by means of fictive kin

Armenian: հորաքույր (hy) (horakʿuyr), մորաքույր (hy) (morakʿuyr) Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܵܠܬܘܿ‎ f (ḥālto), ܐܲܢ݇ܬܬܘܿ‎ f (atto) Bengali: মাসী (masī) 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) Italian: zia (it) f Japanese: おばさん (obasan) Jeju: 아지망 (ajimang), 아주망 (ajumang) Korean: 아주머니 (ko) (ajumeoni), 아줌마 (ko) (ajumma) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: خاتۆ‎ (xato), خان‎ (ku) (xan) Latvian: tante Malay: makcik 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 Roman: teta (sh) f Slovene: teta (sl) f Spanish: tía (es) f Swedish: tant (sv) c 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 f Guaraní: (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 Tamil: (periamma), (please verify) அத்தை (ta) (attai) (paternal), (in-law) Periy'yamma (elder), (please verify) Chi (Chi) 'thi (younger), (please verify) Periy (Periy) 'yamma (elder), (please verify) Chi (Chi) 'thi (younger), (please verify) Maa (Maa) 'mi (in-law) 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) Tupinambá: (1) (please verify) aîxé, (2) (please verify) sy'yra Upper Sorbian: (please verify) ćeta (hsb) Vietnamese: (please verify) cô (vi), (please verify) thím (vi)

See also

• materteral

References

1. The Dialect Survey of US pronunciations

Further reading

• aunt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• -naut, Tuna, naut., tuan, tuna

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Middle English

Noun

aunt

1. Alternative form of aunte