🇺🇸
/ˈʌnti/
🇺🇸
/ˈʌnti/
🇬🇧
/ˈʌnti/
🇬🇧
/ˈʌnti/
Plural
aunties
Aunty is an informal, affectionate, or culturally respectful term for an aunt — typically used when addressing or referring to one’s father’s or mother’s sister, or sometimes extended to any older woman in the family or community who holds a nurturing, guiding, or authoritative role. It’s especially common in Commonwealth countries and diasporic communities, where it often signals warmth, familiarity, or social respect — like saying 'Hello, Aunty!' when greeting your friend’s mother at a party.
My aunty from Mumbai always sends us homemade mango pickle every Diwali.
She laughed and ruffled my hair, just like a proper aunty would.
In our village, everyone calls Mrs. Patel 'Aunty' — even if she’s not related by blood.
Don’t forget to thank Aunty Lena for hosting dinner last night!
He introduced me to his aunty, who runs a famous bakery in Cape Town.
aunt
Comes from Old French 'ante', derived from Latin 'amita' (father's sister) and 'matertera' (mother's sister), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énteh₂- ('mother’s sister'). The root denotes a female parental sibling or a woman in a quasi-parental, kinship-like role. Examples include aunt, aunty, auntie, uncle, cousin.