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aunt - 4 dictionary results
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 male homosexual. |
Origin:
1250–1300; ME aunte < AF, for OF ante < L amita father's sister, old fem. ptp. of amāre to love, i.e., beloved
1250–1300; ME aunte < AF, for OF ante < L amita father's sister, old fem. ptp. of amāre to love, i.e., beloved
Related forms:
auntlike, adjective
Pronunciation note:
The usual vowel of aunt in the United States is the [a] of rant except in New England and eastern Virginia, where it is commonly the “New England broad a,” a vowel similar to French [a] and having a quality between the [a] of hat and the [ah] of car. The vowel [ah] itself is also used. In New England and eastern Virginia [ah] or the [a]-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 [a] pronunciation of aunt was brought to America before British English developed the [ah] in such words as aunt, dance, and laugh. In American English, [ah] is most common in the areas that maintained the closest cultural ties with England after the [ah] pronunciation developed there in these words.
The usual vowel of aunt in the United States is the [a]
of rant except in New England and eastern Virginia, where it is commonly the “New England broad a,” a vowel similar to French [a] and having a quality between the [a] of hat and the [ah] of car. The vowel [ah] itself is also used. In New England and eastern Virginia [ah] or the [a]-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 [a] pronunciation of aunt was brought to America before British English developed the [ah] in such words as aunt, dance, and laugh. In American English, [ah] is most common in the areas that maintained the closest cultural ties with England after the [ah] pronunciation developed there in these words.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To aunt
| aunt (ānt, änt) n.
[Middle English aunte, from Anglo-Norman, from Latin amita, paternal aunt.] aunt'hood n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Aunt
Aunt\, n. [OF. ante, F. tante, L. amita father's sister. Cf. Amma.]1. The sister of one's father or mother; -- correlative to nephew or niece. Also applied to an uncle's wife. Note: Aunt is sometimes applied as a title or term of endearment to a kind elderly woman not thus related. 2. An old woman; and old gossip. [Obs.] --Shak. 3. A bawd, or a prostitute. [Obs.] --Shak. Aunt Sally, a puppet head placed on a pole and having a pipe in its mouth; also a game, which consists in trying to hit the pipe by throwing short bludgeons at it.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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aunt
1297, from Anglo-Fr. aunte, from O.Fr. ante, from L. amita "paternal aunt" dim. of *amma a baby-talk or non-I.E. word for "mother" (cf. Gk. amma "mother," O.N. amma "grandmother," M.Ir. ammait "old hag," Heb. em, Arabic umm "mother"). Extended senses include "an old woman, a gossip" (1590); "a procuress" (1678); and "any benevolent woman," in Amer.Eng., where auntie was recorded since c.1790 as "a term often used in accosting elderly women."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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