aunt
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: änt
ipa: /ɑːnt/
rhymes: -ɑːnt
homophone: aren't (some non-rhotic accents)
enpr: ănt
ipa: /ænt/
rhymes: -ænt
homophone: ant
ipa: /ant/
ipa: [änt]
enpr: ônt
ipa: /ɔnt/
rhymes: -ɔːnt
note: African-American Vernacular
enpr: ŭnt
ipa: /ʌnt/
note: African-American Vernacular
rhymes: -ʌnt
enpr: ānt
ipa: /eɪnt/
rhymes: -eɪnt
homophone: ain't
Forms: form: aunts
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 (compare launch, which contains /ɑː/ in some UK dialects).
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 1923, P.G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves:
glosses: The sister or sister-in-law of one’s parent.
glosses: The female cousin or cousin-in-law of one’s parent.
glosses: A woman of an older generation than oneself, especially a friend of one's parents, by means of fictive kin.
glosses: Any elderly woman.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: A procuress or bawd.
Synonyms: word: auntie
word: aunty
english: as a respectful term of address
translation: as a respectful term of address
word: auntyji
word: naunt
Hypernyms: sense: sibling of someone's parent
word: auncle
word: pibling
Hyponyms: word: aunt-in-law
word: co-aunt
word: cousin-aunt
word: double aunt
word: grandaunt
word: great-grandaunt
word: great-aunt
word: half aunt
word: maternal half aunt
word: paternal half aunt
sense: sister of someone's mother
word: maternal aunt
sense: sister of someone's father
word: paternal aunt
word: second aunt
word: 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
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: tante
materteral