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: ănt, IPA: /ænt/, SAMPA: /{nt/ (in the northern UK; in Australia; in Canada; in the US, where it is the most common pronunciation in all regions except New England and Virginia)

  Rhymes: -ænt

  Homophone: ant

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• enPR: änt, IPA: /ɑ(:)nt/, SAMPA: /A(:)nt/ (in the Received Pronunciation of the UK; in the US, New England and Virginia, where it is the most common pronunciation)

  Rhymes: -ɑːnt

  Homophone: aren't (in some non-rhotic accents)

• IPA: /ɒnt/ (in the Maritime provinces of Canada)
• enPR: ônt, IPA: /ɔnt/, SAMPA: /Ont/ (in the US, primarily in New England)

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• IPA: /eɪnt/ (in the US, primarily in the South)

  Homophone: ain't

Noun

aunt (plural aunts)

1. a sister or sister-in-law of someone’s parent
2. (also great-aunt or grandaunt) a person's grandparent's sister or sister-in-law.
3. (usually auntie) a grandmother.
4. an affectionate term for a woman of an older generation than oneself, especially a friend of one's parents, by means of fictive kin.

Antonyms

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

Hyponyms

• (sister of someone’s father) paternal aunt
• (sister of someone’s mother) maternal aunt

Derived terms

• Auntie
• auntie, aunty
• agony aunt
• big auntie
• great-aunt
• grandaunt
• little auntie
• mine aunt
• naunt

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

Amharic: ኣከስት (ʼakäst) Anglo-Norman: ante f., aunte f. Arabic: عمة (ʕámma, “paternal”), خالة (xāla, “maternal”) Armenian: հորաքույր (hy) (horak'uyr) (paternal), մորաքույր (hy) (morak'uyr) (maternal), քեռակին (hy) (k'eṙakin) (in law) Basque: izeba (eu), izeko (eu) Bosnian: tetka (bs) f.; (in-law, paternal) strina (bs) f., amidžinca (bs) f.; (maternal, in-law) ujna (bs) f., daidžinca (bs) f. Catalan: tia (ca) Chinese: Simplified: (father's sister): 姑 (cmn) (gū), 姑妈 (cmn) (gūmā), 姑姑 (cmn) (gūgu), 姑母 (cmn) (gūmǔ) (father’s elder brother’s wife): 伯母 (cmn) (bómǔ) (father’s younger brother’s wife): 叔母 (cmn) (shúmǔ), 婶母 (cmn) (shěnmǔ), 婶婶 (cmn) (shěnshen) (maternal): 姨 (cmn) (yí), 姨妈 (cmn) (yímā), 阿姨 (cmn) (āyí), 姨母 (cmn) (yímǔ); (in-law): 舅母 (cmn) (jiùmǔ), 舅妈 (cmn) (jiùmā), 妗母 (cmn) (jìnmǔ), 妗 (cmn) (jìn) Traditional: (father's sister): 姑 (cmn) (gū), 姑媽 (cmn) (gūmā), 姑姑 (cmn) (gūgu), 姑母 (cmn) (gūmǔ) (father’s elder brother’s wife): 伯母 (cmn) (bómǔ) (father’s younger brother’s wife): 叔母 (cmn) (shúmǔ), 嬸母 (cmn) (shěnmǔ), 嬸嬸 (cmn) (shěnshen) (maternal): 姨 (cmn) (yí), 姨媽 (cmn) (yímā), 阿姨 (cmn) (āyí), 姨母 (cmn) (yímǔ); (in-law): 舅母 (cmn) (jiùmǔ), 舅媽 (cmn) (jiùmā), 妗母 (cmn) (jìnmǔ), 妗 (cmn) (jìn) Teochew: (father's sister): a1-gou1, gou1 Teochew: (father's elder brother's wife): a1-m2, m2 Teochew: (father's younger brother's wife): a1-sim2, sim2 Teochew: (maternal): a1-i5, i5, a1-gim6 (in-law): Chinook Jargon: kwalh Croatian: tetka (hr) f. Czech: teta (cs) f. Danish: faster (da) (paternal), moster (da) (maternal), tante (da) (in-law) 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 Finnish: täti (fi) (paternal or maternal; sometimes in-law) French: tante (fr) f., tatie (fr) f. (informal) German: Tante (de) f. Greek: θεία (el) (theía) f. Hebrew: דּוֹדָה (he) (dóda) f. Hungarian: nagynéni (hu) Icelandic: föðursystir (is) f. (paternal), móðursystir (is) f. (maternal) Ido: onklino (io) Indonesian: bibi (id), tante (id)

Irish: aintín (ga) 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) Kis: omoigwa Korean: 고모 (ko) (gomo) (paternal), 이모 (ko) (imo) (maternal) Krisa: wini (paternal), moni baʼ (mother's elder sister), moni pung (mother's younger sister) Kurdish: Sorani: پوور (ku) (pûr) Latgalian: cjoceite Latin: amita (la) (paternal), matertera (la) (maternal) Latvian: tante (lv), (paternal) tēva māsa (lv), (maternal) mātes māsa (lv) Lithuanian: teta (lt) f. Lojban: famti (jbo) Luhya: senge Luxembourgish: Tatta (lb) f. Malayalam: അമ്മായി (ml) (ammayi), (Colloq.) മേമ (ml) (mema), മാമി (ml) (maami), (father's elder sister) വല്യമ്മ (ml) (vallyamma), (father's younger sister) ചെറിയമ്മ (ml) (cheriyamma) Meriam: apu Middle English: aunte Ngarrindjeri: barno Norwegian: tante (no) m. and f., faster (no) m. and f. (paternal), moster (no) m. and f. (maternal) Polish: ciotka (pl) f., ciocia (pl) f., stryjenka (pl) f. (in-law) Portuguese: tia (pt) f. Russian: тётя (ru) (tjótja) f., тётка (ru) (tjótka) f. (colloquial) Saterland Frisian: Möie f. Scottish Gaelic: piuthar-athar (gd) f. (paternal), piuthar-màthar (gd) f. (maternal), antaidh (gd) f. Serbian: Cyrillic: тетка f.; (in-law) ујна f., стрина f. Roman: tetka f.; (in-law) ujna f., strina f. Seri: aac Slovene: teta (sl) f. Spanish: tía (es) f. Sundanese: ébé (su) Swahili: shangazi (sw) Swedish: faster (sv) c. (paternal), moster (sv) c. (maternal), tant (sv) c. (in-law) Telugu: (paternal) అత్త (te) (aththa); (maternal) పిన్ని (te) (pinni), పెదమ్మ (te) (pedamma); (maternal, in-law) అత్త (te) Turkish: hala (tr) (paternal), teyze (tr) (maternal), yenge (tr) (in-law) Ukrainian: тета (uk) (téta), тітка (uk) (títka), тіточка (uk) (títočka), тьотя (uk) (t’ótja), цьоця (uk) (c’ócja) Volapük: jiter (vo), zian (vo) Welsh: modryb (cy) f. West Frisian: muoike (fy) c. Yiddish: טאַנטע (yi) (tante) f.

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

grandmother — see auntie or grandmother

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

Armenian: հորաքույր (hy) (horak'uyr), մորաքույր (hy) (morak'uyr) Bosnian: teta (bs) f. Catalan: tia (ca) f. Croatian: teta (hr) f. Czech: teta (cs) f. Dutch: tante (nl) f. Estonian: tädi (et) Finnish: täti (fi) German: Tante (de) f. Hungarian: néni (hu) Italian: zia (it) f.

Kurdish: خاتۆ (ku) (xato), خان (ku) (xan) Latvian: tante (lv) Norwegian: tante (no) m. and f. Russian: (colloquial) тётя (ru) (tjótja) f. Serbian: Cyrillic: тета (sr) f. Roman: teta (sr) f. Slovene: teta (sl) f. Swedish: tant (sv) c. Turkish: teyze (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Breton: moereb f. (1,2,3,4), tintin f. (children’s language) Guaraní: sy'y, sy kypy'y (2) Indonesian: bibi, tante, tanta Interlingua: amita Lithuanian: teta f. (1) Malay: ibu saudara, emak saudara, makcik

Malay, Northern: mak menakan Romanian: mătușă (ro) f. Slovak: teta (1,2), striná, strinka (3), učiná (4) f. Tamil: (periamma), அத்தை (ta) (atth'ai) (paternal); (in-law) Periy'yamma (elder), Chi'thi (younger); Periy'yamma (elder), Chi'thi (younger), Maa'mi (in-law) Telugu: పిన్ని, పెదమ్మ, అత్త Tibetan: ཡ་ནི་ (ah-nay), སུ་མོ་ (su-mo) Tupinambá: aîxé (1); sy'yra (2) Upper Sorbian: ćeta Vietnamese: cô, thím

See also

• materteral

Anagrams

• tuna