# Pronounciation of "aunt" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2015, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593 "2015-10-05T09:21:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/1 "2015-10-05T09:21:13Z")
I’ve been out of planet for a while and having returned I have noticed (in several American TV series) that the USA pronunciation of the word “aunt” seems to have changed, at least in my estimation. It used to be, for me, “ant” (crawling insect). Now I am hearing Americans say “ont”, (as in Ontario, Canada) sort of British style. Comments? ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/2 "2015-10-05T09:44:28Z")
No idea, although the ‘ant’ pronunciation sounds amusing. However, the British pronunciation is ‘Ahhh-n’t’. Onts are unknown. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/3 "2015-10-05T10:14:48Z")
What he said. Kinda sounds like there is an “r” in it but to a native Englishman you clearly _aren’t_ saying “aren’t”. Overall pronunciation is otherwise the same though. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/4 "2015-10-05T10:20:37Z")
my interest in this thread is to find out if there has been a change in the American pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/5 "2015-10-05T10:22:26Z")
Anecdotally, I’ve always heard the long-a pronunciation (‘ahnt’) more from African Americans, and the short-a (‘ant’) from whites. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/6 "2015-10-05T10:41:53Z")
> [@bardos](#): > > my interest in this thread is to find out if there has been a change in the American pronunciation. Of course it is. Sorry for the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/7 "2015-10-05T10:45:57Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > Of course it is. Sorry for the confusion. No problemo, every 0.02 cents is a valuable contribution ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/8 "2015-10-05T10:47:16Z")
Ant is the most common pronunciation in the US, but a [substantial number of people pronounce it the other way](http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_1.html), especially in the Boston area. ---
**Author:** ![TheSpeculationElucidation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@TheSpeculationElucidation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSpeculationElucidation)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/9 "2015-10-05T11:14:07Z")
Everyone I know pronounces it “ant” unless they have a southern accent, in which case it sounds more like “ayent”. I live in the Pacific Northwest. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/10 "2015-10-05T11:29:13Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Ant is the most common pronunciation in the US, but a [substantial number of people pronounce it the other way](http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_1.html), especially in the Boston area. Wow, that’s a pretty definitive ahnsa. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/11 "2015-10-05T11:36:06Z")
If speaking to someone who doesn’t know one’s family, how do you differentiate between your female relative and your pet ant in conversation ? As in: “_I took Ant Mildred for a walk this morning_.” or “_The cost of feeding my Ants is going through the roof._” ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/12 "2015-10-05T12:32:49Z")
> [@bardos](#): > > No problemo, every 0.02 cents is a valuable contribution But it’s so hard to lay your hands on a fiftieth of a cent! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/13 "2015-10-05T12:39:21Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > But it’s so hard to lay your hands on a fiftieth of a cent! 😉 Well, you could always start here and begin shaving the coin [![](https://www.coincommunity.com/us_half_cents/images/1793-liberty-cap-half-cent-bust-left.jpg) ](https://www.coincommunity.com/us_half_cents/images/1793-liberty-cap-half-cent-bust-left.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/14 "2015-10-05T13:43:04Z")
Some regional accents in the UK, or at least in England, shorten the long “ah” sound in words like “aunt” and “bath” to the vowel sound in “hat”. Time was, “au” seems to have been used to signify the long “ah” sound. I’m told my grandmother used to speak about “lahndry”, and I’ve seen old newsreels of upper crust ladies about to smash a bottle of champagne over a ship and speaking about “lahnching”. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/15 "2015-10-05T13:45:23Z")
A [poll](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=762717) on the subject ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/16 "2015-10-05T13:58:39Z")
Here’s some rough [regional maps](http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_1.html) of the pronunciation of “aunt.” About 10% pronounce it “ahnt.” Like **F.U. Shakespeare** , in my region (Chicago), I’ve noticed the difference in pronunciation among whites vs African-Americans. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/17 "2015-10-05T14:30:35Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Like **F.U. Shakespeare** , in my region (Chicago), I’ve noticed the difference in pronunciation among whites vs African-Americans. Yeah, the pronunciation definitely seems to have a racial divide here in Texas too. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/18 "2015-10-05T14:55:47Z")
Oops! Wrong spot! ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/19 "2015-10-05T15:22:40Z")
When I was a little kid, my big sister informed me that the word “aunt” was supposed to be pronounced like the insect “ant.” I didn’t believe her, because I had heard it pronounced like “ain’t” by everyone I knew and had never heard this weird “ant” pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593/20 "2015-10-05T15:26:54Z")
My wife grew up in Connecticut and always pronounced in awn’t. That still seems to me an odd pronunciation. Here in Upstate NY that’s almost unheard of. I would certainly notice if other people started talking like my wife. All I can think of is that tv series seem to star only people from Britain these days, so maybe that’s what the OP is hearing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-of-aunt/733593.md?page=2)