auntie

or aunt·y

[an-tee, ahn-]

noun

Informal. aunt.

Origin of auntie

First recorded in 1785–95; aunt + -ie

Can be confusedante ante- anti- auntie

aunty

[an-tee, ahn-]

noun, plural aunt·ies.

auntie.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for aunties

Contemporary Examples of aunties

These aunties see themselves as the “good girls,” and they assert their authority to keep the “bad girls” in check.
When the Killer Is a Mother: The Tragedy of Three Murdered Teens in Canada
Asra Q. Nomani
February 1, 2012
Girls often call these older women in their community their "aunties."
When the Killer Is a Mother: The Tragedy of Three Murdered Teens in Canada
Asra Q. Nomani
February 1, 2012
Gilliam said Armstrong often said she was "tired of being a burden on my aunties and uncles."
Why I Almost Killed Myself—And My Children
Daleen Berry
April 16, 2011

Historical Examples of aunties

They also said something about the darling coming to see his aunties.
The Yates Pride
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
Whereupon the aunties took up their parable with, 'Well, well!
The Christian
Hall Caine
What was I to do after everything was settled and the aunties provided for?
The Christian
Hall Caine
He had fainted again, and it is extraordinary how helpless the aunties are in a case of illness.
The Christian
Hall Caine
Uncle Charlie was there, and the aunties, sitting around, reading.
Emmy Lou
George Madden Martin

British Dictionary definitions for aunties

auntie

aunty

noun plural -ies

a familiar or diminutive word for aunt

Australian informal, derogatory an older male homosexual

Auntie

noun

British an informal name for the BBC

Australian informal the Australian Broadcasting Association

Aunty

noun

Australian an informal name for ABC 2 (def. 2)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for aunties

auntie

1787, also aunty, familiar diminutive form of aunt. As a form of kindly address to an older woman to whom one is not related, originally in southern U.S., of elderly slave women.

The negro no longer submits with grace to be called "uncle" or "auntie" as of yore. ["Harper's Magazine," October 1883]