# How do you pronounce "aunt"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574 "2015-07-19T02:56:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/1 "2015-07-19T02:56:19Z")
Just what the title says – how do you pronounce aunt, and where did you grow up? I pronounce it “ahnt”. Grew up in redneck regions of Florida. (Poll is inspired by [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=762102)one.) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/2 "2015-07-19T03:05:45Z")
I don’t know how to describe it, but I have always pronounced it with a tense a, a homonym of ant. Let me write it aynt, although that exaggerates it a lot. So I had and aynt Ann (lax a), while my daughter’s Freshman roommate had an ahnt Aynn. I am from Philadelphia; she was from central Mass. Incidentally for me (and all other native Philadelphians) ran, can (the modal), and began rhyme with each other (lax a) and do not rhyme with ban, can (noun and verb), fan, man, and all other words ending in an (tense a). ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/3 "2015-07-19T03:08:41Z")
“Ant.” I grew up in western PA. In my hometown, pronunciation seems to be a racial divide. All of the white people I know say “ant” and all of the black people say “ahnt.” ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/4 "2015-07-19T03:14:56Z")
Been there, done that, found out it was done [before me](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=571229). [How do you pronounce aunt?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=632354) (my old one) ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/5 "2015-07-19T04:02:34Z")
Midwesterner by upbringing, “ant.” ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/6 "2015-07-19T04:09:56Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Been there, done that, found out it was done [before me](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=571229). [How do you pronounce aunt?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=632354) (my old one) An age-old question? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/7 "2015-07-19T04:18:53Z")
I pronounce it “ant”. But I’m also a small burrowing social insect so it all works out. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/8 "2015-07-19T05:50:07Z")
Both, actually. It depends on the day with no real pattern that I’ve noticed. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/9 "2015-07-19T05:57:14Z")
Lived my entire life in the Pacific Northwest, and have never heard anyone pronounce aunt as anything besides “ant”. ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/10 "2015-07-19T06:37:32Z")
From redneck region of (superfluous?) Maine. Everyone pronounces it “ahnt.” ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/11 "2015-07-19T07:01:51Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > “Ant.” I grew up in western PA. In my hometown, pronunciation seems to be a racial divide. All of the white people I know say “ant” and all of the black people say “ahnt.” Same here in Michigan. Whites have “ants,” blacks have “ahnts” or “ahnties.” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/12 "2015-07-19T07:36:58Z")
Auntie. Say it like it’s spelled. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/13 "2015-07-19T08:25:13Z")
i say it the correct way: ahnt. (New England) ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/14 "2015-07-19T09:23:39Z")
Ahnt. Or, more often, ahntie. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/15 "2015-07-19T09:30:27Z")
The same way as I say “aren’t”, rhyming with “can’t”. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/16 "2015-07-19T10:10:50Z")
Other known pronunciations are like “awnt” (with “a” something like in “flaunt”) and “aynt” pronounced something like “ain’t” – Andy Griffith used this pronunciation whenever he said “Aunt Bea”, it sounded like “Ain’t Bee”. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/17 "2015-07-19T10:27:08Z")
Fetching my country, the UK, into the ring: to the best of my knowledge everyone here, regardless of origin or colour, says “ahnt”: “ant” for one’s parent’s sister, sounds downright weird to a Brit. Learning of the frequent American “ant” pronunciation, clarified something for me. In childhood, I came across Ogden Nash’s verse: The anteater Is an uncle-beater. On the other hand, the skunk’ll Beat his aunt and eat his uncle. Originally, I thought this weak and far-fetched, for the sake of a bit of lame wordplay – not up to Ogden’s usual standard. Discovering the “ant” pronunciation option, gave the verse a good deal more point. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/18 "2015-07-19T10:43:46Z")
I grew up saying “ant,” but since about my mid-20’s I find myself saying “ahnt” (perhaps spelled better “awnt,” for New Yorkers like myself) maybe about a third of the time, for no particular reason that I can discern. ---
**Author:** ![nicky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f0a364/32.png) [@nicky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicky)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/19 "2015-07-19T10:46:00Z")
? Northerners say “ant”. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574/20 "2015-07-19T11:07:25Z")
Born in Syracuse, I say Ant. Tennessee-born hubby says Aint. I don’t know anyone who says Ahhnt, but my African-American son in law, born in Georgia, his family, and now my daughter say Awwnt or Awwntee. I only mention race because that seems to be a culturally black pronunciation, here in GA anyway. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-aunt/725574.md?page=2)