Home > A Words > aunt

aunt

Definition of Aunt

(noun) A sister or sister-in-law of an individual’s parent; a wife of an individual’s uncle.

Example of Aunt

  • Selma and Patty are the aunts of Bart, Lisa, and Maggie on The Simpsons.

Aunt Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: aunt

Audio Pronunciation

– American English
– British English

Phonetic Spelling

  • American English – /Ant/
  • British English – /AHnt/

International Phonetic Alphabet

  • American English – /ɑnt/
  • British English – /ɑːnt/

Usage Notes

  • Plural: aunts
  • A greataunt (great-aunt) or grandaunt (grand-aunt) is the aunt of an individual’s parent.
  • A maiden aunt is an unmarried aunt and an aunt-in-law is an aunt by marriage (affinity) instead of blood (consanguinity).
  • A maternal aunt is mother’s sister and a paternal aunt is a father’s sister.
  • An aunt’s sibling’s child is either a niece if male or a nephew if female.
  • The male equivalent of an aunt is an uncle.
  • Informally called: auntie (aunty)
  • The term (adjective) materteral and (adjective) materine means relating to an aunt and an aunt exhibits (noun) aunthood.

Related Quotation

Related Video

Additional Information

Related Terms


Reference

Strong, Bryan, Christine DeVault, and Theodore F. Cohen. 2011. The Marriage and Family Experience: Intimate Relationships in a Changing Society. 11th ed. Boston: Cengage Learning.

Cite the Definition of Aunt

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “aunt.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved March 29, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/aunt/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

aunt. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/aunt/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “aunt.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/aunt/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“aunt.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/aunt/>.