aunt

[ant, ahnt]

noun

1. the sister of one's father or mother.

2. the wife of one's uncle.

3. Chiefly New England and South Midland U.S.,  (used as a term of respectful address to an older woman who is not related to the speaker.)

4. Slang.,  an aging gay man.

aunt

/ ɑːnt /

noun

1. a sister of one's father or mother

2. the wife of one's uncle

3. a term of address used by children for any woman, esp for a friend of the parents

4. an exclamation of surprise or amazement

Pronunciation Note

The usual vowel of aunt in the United States is the of rant except in New England and eastern Virginia, where it is commonly the “New England broad a, ” a vowel similar to French and having a quality between the of hat and the of car. The vowel itself is also used. In New England and eastern Virginia or the -like sound occur in aunt in the speech of all social groups, even where a “broad a ” is not used in words like dance and laugh. Elsewhere, the “broader” a is chiefly an educated pronunciation, fostered by the schools with only partial success (“Your relative isn't an insect, is she?”), and is sometimes regarded as an affectation. Aunt with the vowel of paint is chiefly South Midland United States and is limited to folk speech. The pronunciation of aunt was brought to America before British English developed the in such words as aunt, dance, and laugh. In American English, is most common in the areas that maintained the closest cultural ties with England after the pronunciation developed there in these words.

Other Word Forms

• auntlike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of aunt¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English aunte, from Anglo-French, equivalent to Old French ante, from Latin amita “father's sister,” old feminine past participle of amāre “to love,” i.e., “beloved”

Word History and Origins

Origin of aunt¹

C13: from Old French ante, from Latin amita a father's sister

Example Sentences

“It’s such an illusion,” Newman, 32, said of the home where she, her mother and her aunts all grew up.

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“Instead of getting that $5 latte, maybe your aunt made a pot of coffee.”

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“My own favorite,” Buddy tells us, “was a cold banana pudding—a guarded recipe of the ancient aunt” who took her secret to the grave.

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I spoke to a woman at a conference whose aunt had placed Post-it notes on all her valuable items noting what she had paid for each and to whom it should go after she died.

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But she traveled to Tokyo in 1941 to care for a sick aunt, with disastrous timing.

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Related Words

• cousin 
• father 
• folk 
• mother 
• niece 
• sibling 
• uncle