aunt
Americannoun
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aunts
plural
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the sister of one's father or mother.
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the wife of one's uncle.
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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.)
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Slang. an aging gay man.
noun
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a sister of one's father or mother
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the wife of one's uncle
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a term of address used by children for any woman, esp for a friend of the parents
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an exclamation of surprise or amazement
Pronunciation
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of aunt
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”
Explanation
If you have an aunt, she would be your dad's sister or your mom's sister, or the woman who's married to your parent's sibling. Your uncle is a brother to your mom or dad. Maybe your favorite aunt, Beatrice, sends you a birthday card stuffed with money each year. First used around the 13th century, the noun aunt comes from the Latin word amita, meaning "paternal aunt." The woman who's your aunt is usually older than you are and is also the mother of your cousins. So you may remember your uncle bringing his wife Genevieve — who is also your aunt — and their children Margot and Charlie — your cousins — over for Thanksgiving dinner.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Horror movies also came into her purview by way of her Mexican American family, in particular her aunt Maria.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
Lingard described Bailey as an "agony aunt" for the town, someone who "listened to everyone's problems" but rarely took time away from the shop.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
Her aunt has converted $600 into worthless Iraqi dinars and Zimbabwean dollars that she thinks she’ll be able to use to get access to the technology when it becomes available.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
I think my aunt gave me my first-ever watch, for prom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
His thoughts were a jumble, but he tried to remember when Glory said she went to live with her aunt.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
It did not make sense to me that only children had aunts, uncles, and cousins.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
If there’s an emergency and a minor’s legal parents are incapacitated or killed, most rules default to direct blood relationships — grandparents, aunts and uncles, and so forth down the line.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
“They were kind of like our aunts and uncles. And sometimes being young kids and mischievous and stuff, we were almost like the entertainment for them I think,” she told CNN.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Before Marina arrives at her grandparents’ home, though, she must run a gauntlet of uncles, aunts and cousins, their reactions to her existence varying from warm to wary.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
“It’s been a challenge,” I say, mechanically repeating the same lines I have given to every one of my aunts and uncles over the last three weeks.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
