DictionaryAI

aunt

noun
AHNT/ɑːnt/

Pluralaunts

4 meanings of aunt

Practice

  1. 1
    parent's sisternouncountable
    The sister or sister-in-law of one of your parents, or, more loosely, a parent's female cousin or the wife of a parent's cousin.

    She introduced me to her aunt at the family reunion.

    My aunts on my mother's side visit every summer.

    UsageCapitalize Aunt when it forms part of a name: Aunt Sarah, but my aunt Sarah. Auntie or aunty is a familiar form.

    Note

    The core family sense carries the word's history. Latin amita chiefly meant a father's sister. The word reached English through Old French and Anglo-Norman and displaced native modrie, from Old English mōdriġe, a mother's sister, while Old English called a father's sister faþu. Modern aunt erases that split. P.G. Wodehouse made aunts a comic force in The Inimitable Jeeves (1923), where "Aunt is calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps."

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

    • Amita meant a father's sister, but could also denote a paternal uncle's wife; the exclusive claim is too strong. pure.manchester.ac.uk
    • Aunt entered English through Old French and Anglo-Norman. en.wiktionary.org
    • Aunt displaced native modrie, derived from Old English mōdriġe meaning maternal aunt. en.wiktionary.org
    • Old English faþu meant father's sister. en.wiktionary.org
    • Modern aunt does not distinguish maternal from paternal aunts. en.wikipedia.org
    • P. G. Wodehouse wrote The Inimitable Jeeves, first published in 1923. gutenberg.org
    • The quotation occurs in The Inimitable Jeeves; it belongs to Bertie Wooster's narration. gutenberg.org
  2. 2
    honorary relativenounendearingcountable
    A woman of an older generation, especially a parent's friend, treated and addressed as a relative despite having no actual family tie.

    Though no blood relation, Mrs. Chen has been an aunt to the children since birth.

    The kids greeted their honorary aunt with big hugs at the reunion.

  3. 3
    nounobsolete
    An elderly woman of any kind, regardless of family relationship.
    Note

    Here a kin word stretched past kinship to cover any old woman, a use now largely obsolete. Its warmth survives in the honorary aunt, a family friend of an older generation, and some communities still call unrelated older women aunt or aunty out of respect. Read it in older texts as a familiar way of referring to an elderly woman, and elsewhere avoid it in modern writing, where it would sound like a claim of family or friendship.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Aunt historically meant any elderly woman, a sense classified as obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
    • Aunt and auntie also survive as respectful forms of address outside family friendship, including in Aboriginal communities. alpineresorts.vic.gov.au
    • Some communities still use aunt or auntie respectfully for unrelated older women, including strangers; the blanket statement needs a cultural qualification. abc.net.au

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    nounobsolete
    A woman who manages prostitutes or keeps a brothel.
    Note

    A knowing euphemism, now obsolete, that lent a family title to a woman in the sex trade. Thomas Middleton, writing around 1605, has a character speak of money better spent on an uncle than "one of his aunts" and then add, "I need not say bawd, for every one knows what aunt stands for." The joke depends on that shared knowledge. No modern reader would hear the word this way.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Aunt historically meant a procuress or bawd. en.wiktionary.org
    • Thomas Middleton wrote the play containing this speech. en.wikipedia.org
    • The speech was written around 1605; this is a composition date, not a publication date. en.wikipedia.org
    • The character Lucre contrasts money bestowed on an uncle with money bestowed on one of his nephew's aunts. emothe.uv.es
    • The quoted explanation occurs in the speech and explicitly invokes shared knowledge. It is an excerpt: the sentence continues with 'in the last translation'. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of aunt apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

This word came into Middle English as "aunte" from Anglo-Norman and Old French "ante," ultimately from Latin "amita" ("father's sister"). It replaced the native English word "modrie" for aunt.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts