How Do You Pronounce “Aunt?”

Ant.

Ant. I'm from New York.

“AWNT”

Ant.

My family uses a New England variation that sounds different from "ont" or "ant." It's more like "aahhnt."

I have noticed that my black friends say “ont,” while all the white people I know, including myself, say “ant.”

Surely there’s some historical reason why.

I use "Awnt". Some family members use "Uhnt". We're from Northern California, and have been so for almost 100 years. Before that, we came from Oklahoma, Upstate New York, and Georgia. I have no idea if that had an influence on our pronunciation.

Ant. I'm from rural North Carolina but have lived in NYC for the past 45 years, And I still say ANT.

I wish I could have the perfect mid-Atlantic pronunciation Olivia de Havilland uses in The Heiress when Miriam Hopkins says to her "How can you be so cruel?" and she replies "I have been taught by masters, aunt."

Pretty much everyone I know in the Midwest says "ant." A friend who grew up in New York is the only "ont" person I can think of offhand.

Remember: “aunt” is only one alpha character away from “cunt”

Personally, I pronounce it "dead".

tomato

Call her whatever you want and talk. Just so she doesn't keep nagging me.

I feel like this who say “ont/awnt” think they are sounding smart and sophisticated.

They’re probably the same people who use the word “classy” regularly.

I say ant but a few of the black folks I know say Ahont. Sounds kinda formal.

Do you know where cousins come from? Aunt holes!

Are you not familiar with the POLL option, OP?

My family said “ant” but we called our great-aunts “aunties” and pronounced that “ahn-ty.’ Go figure.

Depends on who I’m speaking to. If it’s a member of my mother’s family, I say ant. If it’s a non-relative I say ont.

Why was the baby ant confused?

Because all of its uncles are aunts.

(This joke only works with one pronunciation, obviously).

Whoops - Should be "all of its uncles are ANTS."

It isn't a trans joke!

Wonderful, r11.

I pronounce it ont and get razzed on it. Sorry I'm not trash.

My Indian friends call all older women (besides mother’s and grandmothers) “AHNTies”

I managed to resist, but growing up in rural Mississippi, most of my family pronounced it "aint"

Aahnt

AHHHHHnt

Ant. Like the bug that picnics. I'm from NJ.

If the Ont pronunciation is from England, why did just this one word stick?

Masshole here. Auunt.

“Ant” but Asian side of the family is “Antie”.

Ant. I'm white and Texan. Black people around me in Texas and Louisiana say "ont."

Ant - I’m from Connecticut

Ahnt, always. Ants are insects.

Ant. I'm Scottish.

I say "Ant."

🐜 Ant

When I addressed my aunts, they were "Ahntie blank". However, when I'm talking about the word with others, as in the question, "how many aunts do you have?" I would pronounce it Ant. My family is first to third generation Irish. My great-aunts were born in Ireland, and I think this pronunciation started with them.

So good....

I grew up on the Canadian prairies and only heard "Ant". When I moved East I began to hear "Ahnt" for the first time in my life.

OINT or AINT

EEEYAAHHHNNNN tuh

I just asked my biracial friend how he pronounces it and he said “ant.”

BUT he grew up with him mother’s side of the family, which is white.

[quote] I also say “pops” not dad,

You're just too-too, Mary!

ONT is a black thing.

Aren’t.

Ant. Is Ont a black thing? not trying to be mean or racist. In your experience is Ont a black thing?

prolly shoulda read r42 before that question, but still curious. Who says ONT and are your black?

ant - I'm a white Houstonian. The only white American I've heard say ahnt thought it made him sound classier. He also presses his blue jeans to a crease.

R6 stfu, that’s ONT. Your family is not special.

R51 if you were born and raised anywhere near Boston, "ONT" is pronounced like the word "ought". So R6 is not wrong.

You're exactly right, R52. My family is from Massachusetts. It's simply a regional accent. It's not trying to be "fancy" and it's not a black or white thing.

R6 except I’m from Texas (ugh I know) and all my white friends say ANT and all my black friends say ONT.

It’s a cultural thing.

Well, no one says "Ontie Mame." Or "OntPittypat." Or "Ontie Em."

And THAT'S the end of THAT.

I grew up in Minnesota - I say awnt

Ehhhhnt

Ant. Grew up in the midwest, outside of Chicago, and everybody I knew pronounced it "ant" -- so, years later, it would annoy the hell out of me when watching As the World Turns -- which was set in the midwest outside of Chicago -- and the actors would pronounce in "ont."

I'm another New Englander who says "aahhnt." It's not done to sound "classy." It's simply a regional pronunciation that, like others, is a holdover from the British.

When I was a kid and heard people on television pronouncing it "ant," I thought it sounded disrespectful, as though they were comparing their aunts to insects.

Ant

I'm from Ireland and we grew up saying Awnt. My cousins, who were born and raised in Vermont, also say Awnt.

How do they pronounce it in Nebraska?

[quote] The first (ANT) is by far the predominant American pronunciation. The second (AHNT) is common in the Northeast, some Southern dialects, and among African Americans.

I, and everyone else I know, say ANT.

But I suppose the proper pronunciation should be ONT. You don’t go out to eat at a “rest-a-ront” or get “malled” by a tiger.

don't think it's racial . in my observation all races use the different pronunciations.

could well be regional dialects

first heard the ahnt used by Tidewater VA whites.

It's Aaa yant here in Fargo

Deep South, white, pronounce "aunt" as "ant."

Never heard "ont" until the schools were integrated in 1970. A few black kids said "ont."

First time I had ever seen an uncircumcised dick was that year too. You can bet we white boys discussed this new thing we saw in gym class over lunch. We were gobsmacked.

Here in Massachusetts it’s all ahhhhnt, never ant.

I grew up in Weehawken and pronounce it "AHHHNT".