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^(key): /ɑːnt/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [ɑːnt]
  • (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/
  • (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/

  Rhymes: -ɔːnt

• (African-American Vernacular) enPR: ŭnt, IPA^(key): /ʌnt/

  Rhymes: -ʌnt

• (Southern US) enPR: ānt, IPA^(key): /eɪnt/
• 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.
   • 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
• 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 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.

a parent's sister or sister-in-law

• Abinomn: nyebak
• Afrikaans: tante (af)
• Albanian: teze (sq), emtë (sq), hallë (sq)
• Aleut: tuutkax̂, quliigix̂
• 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)
• 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)
• 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
• 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 (mami), মাসী (maśi), মাসীমা (maśima), কাকিমা (kakima), কাকি (kaki), খুড়ি (bn) (khuṛi)
• Bhojpuri: काकी (kākī)
• 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:)
• Carpathian Rusyn: тю́̈тка f (tjú̈tka)
• 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:

  (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 ji^4-1) (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)
• 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 (he) 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), 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:

  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
• 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)
• 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)
• 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: mōdriġe 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) (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)
• Sanskrit: (father's sister) पितृव्या f (pitṛvyā)
• Sardinian: tzia f, tia f
• 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

• Southern Altai: эје (eǰe)
• 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)
• 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
• West Frisian: muoike (fy) c
• 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

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) (horakʻuyr), մորաքույր (hy) (morakʻuyr)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܚܵܠܬܘܿ f (ḥālto), ܐܲܢ݇ܬܬܘܿ f (atto)
• 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

  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 'thi (younger), ^{(please verify)} Periy 'yamma (elder), ^{(please verify)} Chi 'thi (younger), ^{(please verify)} 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

Further reading

• aunt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• -naut, Tuna, naut., tuan, tuna

Middle English

Noun

aunt

1. Alternative form of aunte