An aunt is a person who is the sister or sister-in-law of a parent.
A great-aunt or grand-aunt is the sister or sister-in-law of a grandparent.
The male equivalent of an aunt is an uncle, and the reciprocal relationship is that of a nephew or niece.
"Aunt" (or "auntie") may also be an honorific bestowed upon an individual of fictive kinship.
Famous quotes containing the word aunt:
“The massive weight of Uncles wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifers hand.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“How they got a cat up there I do not know, for they are as shy as my aunt about entering a canoe. I wondered that she did not run up a tree on the way; but perhaps she was bewildered by the very crowd of opportunities.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)