aunt English · revision 7187

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1297|origins=la amita}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɑːnt/, /ænt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English aunte, [[bor|xno|aunte]], Old French ante (modern French [[m|fr|tante]], from a 13th-century variant),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from [[la|amita|t=paternal aunt]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) a diminutive of *amma, a baby-talk word for mother, also the source of Greek amma, mother, and Old Norse amma, grandmother.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The sister of one's father or mother: 1297 in the OED, about 1300 in Barnhart and Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Extended senses include an old woman or gossip (1590 in the OED, the 1580s in Etymonline) and a bawd or procuress (1607 in the OED).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) In American English any kindly elderly woman, and ''auntie'' as a term for accosting older women, are from about 1790.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The French word also became the word for aunt in Dutch, German ([[m|de|Tante]]) and Danish, while Swedish keeps separate words for father's sister and mother's sister; the Old English equivalents were faðu and mōdrige.^(Etymonline) ''Aunt Sally'', a fairground game of throwing at a figure of a woman's head, is from 1861.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1297 – a parent's sister.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1590 – an old woman, a gossip.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1607 – a procuress (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1790 – auntie, any older woman (US).^(Etymonline)

+ * 1861 – Aunt Sally.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The sister of one's father or mother, or the wife of one's [[uncle]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A term of address used by children for a woman friend of the family.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[aunthood]]

+ * [[auntlike]]

+ * [[auntly]]

+ * [[Auntie]]

+ * [[aunty]]

+ * [[grandaunt]]

+ * [[great-aunt]]

+ * [[great-grandaunt]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[uncle]]

+ * [[niece]]

+ * [[nephew]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}