# 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”)). The digraph ⟨au⟩ representing /æ ~ ɑː/ instead of the expected /ɔː/ is irregular, and has not been conclusively explained.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: änt, IPA: /ɑːnt/
** (Received Pronunciation) IPA: [ɑːnt]
** (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA: [äːnt], [ɐːnt]
** (Atlantic Canada, Tidewater, SAE) IPA: [ɒːnt]
** (New England) IPA: [ɑːnt], [aːnt]
** (African-American Vernacular) IPA: [äːnt], [ɑːnt]
    Rhymes: -ɑːnt
    Homophone: aren't (some non-rhotic accents)
    Audio (US):(file)
* enPR: ănt, IPA: /ænt/
** (General American, Canada) IPA: [ænt], [ɛənt], [eənt]
** (Northern England, Ireland) IPA: [ant], [änt], [ænt]
    Rhymes: -ænt
    Homophone: ant
    Audio (US):(file)
* (Scotland) IPA: /ant/, [änt]
* (New England) enPR: ônt, IPA: /ɔnt/
    Rhymes: -ɔːnt
* (African-American Vernacular) enPR: ŭnt, IPA: /ʌnt/
    Rhymes: -ʌnt
* (Southern US) enPR: ānt, IPA: /eɪnt/
* 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: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.
* 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. 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.

#### 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
* (sister of someone's mother) maternal aunt
* (sister of someone's father) paternal aunt
* second aunt
* stepaunt

#### Derived terms

* 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
* 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
* wouldn't call the Queen my aunt

#### Related terms

* tante

#### 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.
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### See also

* materteral

### References

* 1 2 3 4 The Dialect Survey of US pronunciations, archived on November 20, 2008

### Further reading

* aunt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* -naut, Tuna, naut., tuan, tuna

## Middle English
### Noun

aunt
* Alternative form of aunte