Why are aunts mean

Each word can also be used in the singular to refer to such a relative without specifying their gender—which is also the case for cousin. But what about aunts and uncles—or their counterparts, nieces and nephews?

Not only that, these terms are great examples of gender-neutral and gender-inclusive language that can make it easier to refer to and address the relatives we love—regardless of their gender. Many languages have specific words for aunts or uncles depending on what side of the family they come from. Similar distinctions exist in many other languages, including Tamil and Ukrainian. When it comes to referring to a mixed group of aunts and uncles like we can do with parents or siblings when referring to those relatives , the language is far from settled.

That said, one term that has become increasingly popular is pibling. Pibling can refer to either an aunt or an uncle and is modeled on sibling , blended with the P from parent. For example:. Pibling can also be used as a gender-neutral or nonbinary term to refer to the sibling of a parent regardless of their gender identity.

There are also other gender-neutral or nonbinary terms for aunt and uncle that some people use or have proposed, including:. Read about the meaning and importance of the term nonbinary. Some terms are used by those who identify as gender-fluid or in other ways, including:.

She always behaves badly when her aunts come to visit. We used to spend the weekends at my aunt's cottage in the country. Family: relations in general. We stopped off to visit my aunt and uncle in Boston. Examples of aunt. For instance, a quarter of the working parents reported using their children's aunts, and 10 per cent, their children's uncles when they were at work.

From the Cambridge English Corpus. She projects, from the start, an alternative lesson, and at the end she pronounces her pride in being like her aunt. In the cases of uncles and aunts, childlessness may often have been a factor. No uncle niece or aunt -nephew marriage was recorded. The neighbors of ' aunt ' are ' uncle ', 'relative ' and ' relation'. Shortly after being hired, he constructed a thatched house of his own down the street from an aunt.

Furthermore, other kin parents, aunts and uncles, siblings, cousins, grandchildren, and nieces and nephews of diverse ages are frequently cited as significant network members. Relationships with nieces or nephews tend to be infrequent and perfunctory unless an aunt or uncle has been a surrogate parent.

The aunt reciprocates her niece's call for complicity. Consider the following example, in which an aunt is requesting her three-year-old nephew to talk.

We may be generally reticent as to our uncles and aunts, and may drop even our brothers and sisters in our ordinary conversation. He immediately wakes in horror, realising that he has dreamed the tale of the count's aunt , and encountered, meanwhile, the voice belonging to the portrait.

By contrast, there were a few aunts and grandmothers who played, usually temporarily, key caring roles, but to whom the child never became closely attached. Some aunts who were notable characters also played similarly powerful roles in their families.

Certainly it was easiest when the grandmother or aunt lived in the same house, but there were also striking instances when they lived close by. Wiktionary 5. Webster Dictionary 0. Also applied to an uncle's wife Etymology: [OF. Freebase 0. Chambers 20th Century Dictionary 0. Editors Contribution 0. Submitted by dklajksdajsdaiuoiuoew on December 15, Submitted by fcatana14 on August 13, Suggested Resources 5. Anagrams for aunt » tuna. How to pronounce aunt? Alex US English. David US English.

Mark US English. Daniel British. Libby British. Mia British. Karen Australian. Hayley Australian. Natasha Australian. Veena Indian. Priya Indian. Neerja Indian.

Zira US English. Oliver British. Wendy British. Fred US English.