Aunt

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. Known alternate terms include auntie or aunty. Children in other cultures and families may refer to the cousins of their parents as aunt or uncle due to the age and generation gap.

For other uses, see auntie (disambiguation).
An aunt and her niece in Tigray, Ethiopia.

The male counterpart of an aunt is an uncle, and the reciprocal relationship is that of a nephew or niece.

Aunts by Generation

Additional terms
  • A half-aunt is a half-sister of a parent.
  • An aunt-in-law is the aunt of one's spouse. An aunt-in-law can also be an aunt by marriage (female spouse of a relative) .
  • A great-aunt[1][2]/grandaunt[3] (sometimes written grand-aunt[4]) is the sister of one's grandparent. Despite the popular usage of great-aunt, genealogists consider it more correct to use grandaunt for a grandparent's sister to avoid confusion with earlier generations. Similarly, the female siblings of one's great-grandparents are referred to as great-grandaunts.[5]

Genetics and consanguinity

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.

See also
  • All pages with titles beginning with Aunt – includes many articles with titles "Aunt [name]."
  • Auntie (disambiguation) (also includes "Aunty")
  • Cousin

References
  1. "Definition of great-aunt in English by Oxford Dictionaries". oxforddictionaries.com. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  2. "Google Ngram Viewer of relative versions of name". Google Ngram. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  3. "Grandaunt definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary". collinsdictionary.com. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  4. "Definition of grand-aunt in English by Oxford Dictionaries". oxforddictionaries.com. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  5. "Relationship Chart by Betty Eichhorn" (PDF). devonfhs.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  • The dictionary definition of aunt at Wiktionary
  • The dictionary definition of grandaunt at Wiktionary
  • The dictionary definition of great-aunt at Wiktionary
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