Aunt

A chart showing the names for relationships in an extended family.

An aunt is relationship that describes a woman who is a sibling of a parent or is married to a sibling of a parent. Aunts are sometimes called Auntie or Aunty. A man is a nephew to their Aunt and a woman is a niece. An aunt is part of an extended family. The child of an aunt's is a cousin. Often the word aunt is used with people who are not related to show closeness or respect.

In many cultures there are different words to describe a person's mother's sister and father's sister. In Latin a mother's sister is matertera while a father's sister is amita.

Detail

A maternal or paternal relative is one who is related through one's mother or father, respectively. For example, a maternal aunt is the subject's mother's sister. An in-law is a relationship that is not by blood, but instead by marriage. The in-law shares the in-law relationships of the spouse's relatives. For example, an aunt in-law could be the wife of the subject's uncle.

• aunt: parent's sister.
• maternal aunt: mother's sister.
• paternal aunt: father's sister.
• half-aunt: parent's half-sister.
• double-half-aunt: a person who is a half-sister of both of the subjects parents.
• grandaunt (or great-aunt): grandparent's sister.
• great-grandaunt (or great-great-aunt): great-grandparent's sister.
• aunt-in-law: uncle/aunt's wife.
• aunt-in-law: spouse's aunt.
• co-aunt-in-law: spouse's uncle/aunt's wife.
• stepaunt: stepparent's sister.
• stepaunt: parent's stepsister.

Aunt Media

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  An aunt and her niece in Tigray, Ethiopia

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  Aunts by generation.