aunt

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The sister or sister-in-law of one’s parent.

   As a rule, you see, I'm not lugged into Family Rows. On the occasions when Aunt is calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps and Uncle James's letter about Cousin Mabel's peculiar behaviour is being shot round the family circle... the clan has a tendency to ignore me.

2. 2
   noun

   A procuress or bawd.

   I saw neither hope of his reclaiming, nor comfort in his being; and was it not then better bestowed upon his uncle than upon one of his aunts?—I need not say bawd, for every one knows what aunt stands for in the last translation.

3. 3
   noun

   the sister of your father or mother

4. 4
   noun

   The female cousin or cousin-in-law of one’s parent.

5. 5
   noun

   A woman of an older generation than oneself, especially a friend of one's parents, by means of fictive kin.

6. 6
   noun

   Any elderly woman.

Etymology

From Middle English aunte, from Anglo-Norman aunte, from Old French ante, from Latin amita (“father's sister”). Displaced native Middle English modrie (“aunt”) (from Old English mōdriġe (“maternal aunt”); compare Old English faþu, faþe (“paternal aunt”)). The digraph ⟨au⟩ representing /æ ~ ɑː/ instead of the expected /ɔː/ is irregular, and has not been conclusively explained (compare launch, which contains /ɑː/ in some UK dialects).