Meaning & use
aunty
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Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A familiar, affectionate word for the sister or sister-in-law of your parent.
Grammar: Often used as a title before a name: Aunty Rose.
Patterns
- Aunty + name
- my aunty
My aunty makes the best lemon cake in the family.
We're visiting Aunty Meera for the weekend.
Say thank you to your aunty for the present.
nouncountableinformal
A respectful, warm way to address an older woman who is not a relative, especially a family friend or neighbor.
Grammar: Used in many communities, including South Asian, Caribbean and Aboriginal Australian ones.
Patterns
- Aunty + name
All the children called our neighbor Aunty Grace.
He greeted the shopkeeper politely and called her aunty.
Word forms
| plural | aunties |
|---|
Common combinations
- Aunty Jean
- Aunty Jean sent a card for my birthday.
- favorite aunty
- She is my favorite aunty because she tells the best stories.
- visit aunty
- We go to visit aunty every summer.
- agony aunty
- She wrote to the newspaper's agony aunty for advice.
Synonyms and how they differ
- auntie
- Auntie is an equally informal spelling, and the two are interchangeable in most places.
- aunt
- Aunt is the neutral standard word and sounds more formal than aunty.
- tante
- Tante is the word in several European languages and not standard English.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: aunty or aunt?
aunty vs aunt
Aunt is the standard word and aunty the casual form. In British English aunt often sounds like 'arnt', in American English like 'ant'.
Practice
Which sentence uses aunty most naturally?
Choose one answer.
Aunty is a family word, used as an affectionate title before a name. The other sentences use it in places where it makes no sense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “aunty”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.