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Types
Genetics and consanguinity
Cultural variations
In popular culture
See also
References
External links
Aunt
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see auntie (disambiguation).
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help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources.
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Find
sources: "Aunt" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (Marc
h 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
An aunt and
her niece in Tigray, Ethiopia Isabel, Princess Imperial
of Brazil (right) with her nephew Prince Pedro Augusto sitting on her lap. At left, Isabel's
sister Princess Leopoldina holding her son Prince Augusto Leopoldo, c. 1868
An aunt is a woman who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Aunts
who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. Alternate terms
include auntie or aunty.
Aunt, auntie, and aunty also may be titles bestowed by parents and children to close friends
of one or both parents who assume a sustained caring or nurturing role for the children.
[1]
Children in some cultures and families may refer to the cousins of their parents as aunt or
uncle due to the age and generation gap. The word comes from Latin: amita via Old
French ante and is a family relationship within an extended or immediate family.
The male counterpart of an aunt is an uncle, and the reciprocal relationship is that of
a nephew or niece. The gender-neutral neologism pibling, a shortened form of parent's
sibling, is used for both aunts and uncles.[2]
Aunts by generation
Types
A half-aunt is a half-sister of a parent.
A maternal aunt is the sister of one's mother.
A paternal aunt is the sister of one's father.
An aunt-in-law is the wife or female partner of one's uncle.[3]
A parent's first cousin may be called a second aunt.
A great-aunt[4][5] or grandaunt[6] (sometimes written grand-aunt[7]) is the sister of
one's grandparent.
Genetics and consanguinity
This section does not cite any sources. Please
help improve this section by adding citations to
reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (February 2022) (Learn how
and when to remove this message)
Aunts by birth (sister of a parent) are related to their nieces and nephews by 25%. As half-
aunts are related through half-sisters, they are related by 12.5% to their nieces and
nephews. Non-consanguineous aunts (female spouse of a relative) are not genetically
related to their nieces and nephews.
Cultural variations
In some cultures, such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia,
respected senior members of the community, often also referred to as Elders, are addressed
as "uncle" (for men) and "aunt" for women, as a mark of seniority and respect, whether
related or not,[8][9] such as Aunty Kathy Mills.[10]
In several cultures, no single inclusive term describing both a person's kinship to their
parental female sibling or parental female in-law exists. Instead, there are specific terms
describing a person's kinship to their mother's female sibling, and a person's kinship to their
father's female sibling, per the following table:[citation needed]
Terms for aunt
Language Mother's sister Father's sister
Albanian teze hallë
Kurdish Xaltîk (IPA: xɑːltiːk) Metik (IPA: mɛtɪk)
Arabic ( خالةkhālah) ( عّمةʿammah)
Assamese Mahi Pehi
Bengali খালা (khala) ফুফু (phuphu)
Hindi Mausi Bua
Korean 이모 (Imo) 고모 (Gomo)
Marathi Mavashi Aatya
Persian ()خالهkhaleh ()عّمهammeh
ciotka (diminutive:
Polish stryjna (diminutive: stryjenka)
ciocia)
Swedish moster faster
Turkish teyze hala
Ukrainian вуйна / vujna стрийна / stryjna
In popular culture
Aunts in popular culture have not always been portrayed as positive roles. Childless aunts
are often subjected to othering in popular culture and presented as exotic or as having a
second-best role, with motherhood preferred.[11]
Aunt Flo is a popular euphemism referring to the menstrual cycle.
An agony aunt is a colloquial term for a female advice columnist.
Fictional aunts include:
Aunt Agatha and Aunt Dahlia, both aunts to Bertie Wooster in the Jeeves stories of P.
G. Wodehouse: Aunt Agatha is haughty and fearsome, while Aunt Dahlia is more
genial.
May Parker, the aunt of Spider-Man.
Eunice, the abusive aunt of Joker.
Auntie Mame, title character in the novel and film.
Petunia Dursley, the aunt of the protagonist of Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling.
Vivian Banks, the aunt of the main character in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Aunt Sally, a character in the Worzel Gummidge books and TV series.
Auntie Em, the aunt of Dorothy Gale in the Oz books and film.
Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge, the villainous aunts of James Trotter in James and the
Giant Peach.
Diane, the tomboyish aunt of Daniel in Chicago Party Aunt.
Karasu and Washi, the twin aunts of Kubo from Kubo And The 2 Strings.
See also
All pages with titles beginning with Aunt – includes many articles with titles "Aunt
[name]."
Auntie (disambiguation) (also includes "Aunty")
References
1. Bashir, Imani (2019). "When an auntie is not actually a
relative". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
2. Straussman, Min (2021). "Piblings & Niblings: Do You Know These Words For
Aunts, Uncles, Nieces, & Nephews?". dictionary.com. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
3. "Aunt-in-law, N." Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, December
2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1008652953
4. "Definition of great-aunt in English by Oxford
Dictionaries". oxforddictionaries.com. Archived from the original on 24 April
2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
5. "Google Ngram Viewer of relative versions of name". Google Ngram.
Retrieved 24 April 2019.
6. "Grandaunt definition and meaning | Collins English
Dictionary". collinsdictionary.com. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
7. "Definition of grand-aunt in English by Oxford
Dictionaries". oxforddictionaries.com. Archived from the original on 24 April
2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
8. "Communicating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Audiences". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia). 23
February 2016.
9. Browning, Daniel (14 September 2022). "'I called him Uncle': Remembering
iconic theatre great Uncle Jack Charles". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting
Corporation. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
10. Mills, Aunty Kathy. "You belong to my heart". Spun: True Stories Told in the
Territory. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
11. Jones, Anna. "'Aunt with no kids': The women redefining family
roles". www.bbc.
