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): /ɑ(ː)nt/ (in the Received Pronunciation of the UK; in Australia; in the US, New England and Virginia, where it is the most common pronunciation)
• Rhymes: -ɑːnt
• Homophone: aren't (in some non-rhotic accents)
• enPR: ănt, IPA^(key): /ænt/ (in the northern UK; 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)

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /e͡ɪnt/ (in the American South)
• Homophone: ain't
• IPA^(key): /ʊ͡ənt̚/ (in New York City)
• Homophone: on

Noun

aunt (plural aunts)

1. A sister or sister-in-law of someone’s parent.
   • 2007, Nancy Eshelman, A Piece of My Mind: Columns from the Patriot-News, page 35:

     I mentioned another aunt, my late mother's sister, who's about the same age.

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

• Albanian: teze, emtë, hallë
• Amharic: ኣከስት (ʼakäst)
• Arabic: (paternal) عمة (ar) f (ʿámma), (maternal) خالة (ar) f (xāla)
• Armenian: հորաքույր (hy) (horakʿuyr) (paternal), մորաքույր (hy) (morakʿuyr) (maternal), քեռակին (kʿeṙakin) (in law)
• Asturian: tía (ast) f
• Azeri: xala (az), bibi (az)
• Bakhtiari: (paternal) کچی (keči)
• Basque: izeba (eu), izeko (eu)
• Belarusian: цётка f (cjótka), цёця f (cjócja)
• Breton: moereb (br) f
• Bulgarian: леля (bg) f (lélja)
• Catalan: tia f
• Chinese:

  Simplified Mandarin:

  (father's sister): 姑 (zh) (gū), 姑妈 (zh) (gūmā), 姑姑 (zh) (gūgu), 姑母 (zh) (gūmǔ)

  (father’s elder brother’s wife): 伯母 (zh) (bómǔ)

  (father’s younger brother’s wife): 叔母 (zh) (shúmǔ), 婶母 (zh) (shěnmǔ), 婶婶 (zh) (shěnshen)

  (maternal): 姨 (zh) (yí), 姨妈 (zh) (yímā), 阿姨 (zh) (āyí), 姨母 (zh) (yímǔ);

  (in-law): 舅母 (zh) (jiùmǔ), 舅妈 (zh) (jiùmā), 妗母 (jìnmǔ), 妗 (zh) (jìn)

  Traditional Mandarin:

  (father's sister): 姑 (zh) (gū), 姑媽 (gūmā), 姑姑 (zh) (gūgu), 姑母 (zh) (gūmǔ)

  (father’s elder brother’s wife): 伯母 (zh) (bómǔ)

  (father’s younger brother’s wife): 叔母 (zh) (shúmǔ), 嬸母 (shěnmǔ), 嬸嬸 (shěnshen)

  (maternal): 姨 (zh) (yí), 姨媽 (yímā), 阿姨 (zh) (āyí), 姨母 (zh) (yímǔ); (in-law): 舅母 (zh) (jiùmǔ), 舅媽 (jiùmā), 妗母 (jìnmǔ), 妗 (zh) (jìn)

• Chinook Jargon: kwalh
• Czech: teta (cs) f
• Danish: faster (paternal), moster (maternal), tante (in-law)
• Dutch: tante (nl) f
• Esperanto: onklino
• 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)
• Galician: tía f
• Georgian: დეიდა (ka) (deida)
• German: Tante (de) f
• Greek: θεία (el) f (theía)
• Greenlandic: aja (maternal), atsa (paternal)
• Guernésiais: tànte f
• Hawaiian: makuahine, ʻanakē
• Hebrew: דּוֹדָה f (dóda)
• Hungarian: nagynéni (hu)
• Icelandic: föðursystir (is) f (paternal), móðursystir (is) f (maternal)
• Ido: onklino (io)
• Indonesian: bibi (id), tante (id)

  Sundanese: ébé

• Irish: aintín 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)
• Jèrriais: tante f
• Kazakh: апа (apa), апай (apay)

• 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 (pûr)

• Latgalian: cjoceite
• Latin: amita (la) (paternal), matertera (la) (maternal)
• Latvian: tante, (paternal) tēva māsa, (maternal) mātes māsa
• Lithuanian: teta f
• Lojban: famti
• Luhya: senge
• Luxembourgish: Tatta f
• Macedonian: тетка f (tétka)
• Malay:

  Rumi: emak saudara, mak cik, tante

  Jawi: امق ساودارا, مق چيق, تنتى

• Malayalam: അമ്മായി (ml) (ammayi), (colloquial) മേമ (mema), മാമി (ml) (maami), (father's elder sister) വല്യമ്മ (vallyamma), (father's younger sister) ചെറിയമ്മ (ml) (cheriyamma)
• Marathi: (mother's sister) माउशी f (māuśī), (mother's sister-in-law) मामी f (māmī), (father's sister) आत्या f (ātyā), (father's sister-in-law) काकी (kākī)
• 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)
• Nama: antis
• Ngarrindjeri: barno
• 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: tante (no) m, f, faster m, f (paternal), moster m, f (maternal)
• Old French: ante f, aunte f
• Persian: (paternal) عمه (fa) ('amme), (maternal) خاله (fa) (xâle)
• Polish: ciotka (pl) f, ciocia (pl) f, stryjenka (pl) f (in-law)
• Portuguese: tia (pt) f
• Romanian: mătușă (ro) f
• Russian: тётя (ru) f (tjótja), тётка (ru) f (tjótka) (colloquial)
• Saterland Frisian: Möie f
• Scottish Gaelic: piuthar-athar f (paternal), piuthar-màthar f (maternal), antaidh f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тетка f, (maternal in-law) ујна f, (paternal in-law) стрина f

  Roman: tetka f, (maternal in-law) ujna f, (Bosnia) daidžinca f, (paternal in-law) strina f, (Bosnia) amidžinca f

• Seri: aac
• Slovak: teta f
• Slovene: teta (sl) f
• Spanish: tía (es) f
• Sundanese: ébé
• 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) (atta)
• Turkish: hala (tr), bibi (tr), eme (tr) (paternal), teyze (tr) (maternal), yenge (tr) (in-law)
• Turkmen: daýza
• Ukrainian: тітка (uk) (títka), тьотя (t’ótja)
• Venetian: amia (vec) f, àmeđa f
• Volapük: jiter (vo), zian (vo)
• Welsh: modryb (cy) f
• West Frisian: muoike (fy) c
• Yiddish: טאַנטע f (tante)

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) (horakʿuyr), մորաքույր (hy) (morakʿuyr)
• Catalan: tia 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:

  Sorani: خاتۆ (xato), خان (ku) (xan)

• Latvian: tante

• Malay: makcik
• Marathi: काकू f (kākū), माउशी f (māuśī)
• Norwegian: tante (no) m, f
• Portuguese: tia (pt) f
• Russian: (colloquial) тётя (ru) f (tjótja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тета f

  Roman: teta 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: (1,2,3,4) moereb (br) f, (children’s language) tintin f
• Guaraní: sy'y, (2) sy kypy'y
• Indonesian: bibi (id), tante (id), tanta
• Interlingua: amita
• Lithuanian: (1) teta f

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

See also

• materteral

Anagrams

• tuna