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Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Pronunciation: aunt

I’m not sure if we can ask pronunciation questions here. Well, I’d like to know the correct way to pronounce “aunt,” whether it’s closer to “ant” or “ont.” When you answer, please say where you’re from. I’m curious if it’s an American vs British English thing.

In Western Canada we say “ant.”

  • Posted by jon
  • Filed in Misc
  • 19 comments

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Using that logic, Arfon, shouln't you say "awnt", rhyming with haunt or taunt?

porsche Jan-18-2006

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In Virginia (The real one, not West), we say 'ont' because there's a "u" in there. I don't think I have ever heard of a silent "u".

Arfon Jan-18-2006

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I grew up in the suburban Midwest (Kansas City aria) and I only heard ah-nt from African-American kids at school.

I'm on the south east coast now and I hear ah-nt MUCH more often from "Southern" women.

Strangely, "Southern" men from the same families say ant.

Bert Jan-18-2006

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I would probably say ont because if you are referring to you aunt as aunty, then it wouldn't sound right if it was (AN-tee) unless you have a new york accent.

Olivia1 Jan-12-2006

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I am from Sweden, and sadly enough my english is a mish-mash of british english and american english, therefore the pronounciation depends upon the accent of the person whom I'm talking to. My br. english teacher hear me saying "ah-nt" and talking with friends in class I use the long vowel.

Ylva Jan-08-2006

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I looked at the UWisconsin link and was very surprised by the results. I think it must have been a very Caucasian poll. I, too, am Caucasian, but I don't know any African-Americans that pronounce the word "ant". All of my black acquaintances and friends pronounce it "ahnt".

Megan_G Jan-07-2006

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I grew up with the "ont" pronunciation in my family (African America from New Jersey not "Jois-see".) But since I moved to CA I've made a lot of friends that are Phillipino and I've noticed myself changing to "ant" and "ant-ee".

Another cute thing I picked up from my Phillipino friends is the term of endearment "Auntie Baby" (ant-ee bay-bee) referring to your youngest Aunt. Almost all my friends have an "Auntie Baby" and I think it's just the cutest phrase.

Penny Jan-06-2006

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In the Northwest part of the states, it's "ant" 99% of the time. In the Midwest I'ts "ont" 99% of the time. In my research on the origins of the word "aunt", many sources say that the "ant" pronunciation is the original one, but "ont" has and is becoming a more widely accepted pronunciation. The dictionary also uses the pronunciation "ant". I wish I knew.

anonymous4 Jan-06-2006

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"ah-nt"for me, when I heard this word for the first time in my life from a nun from Ireland in 60's in Japan

kitanohuji Jan-05-2006

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We pronounce aunt as "ant" in the Philippines where we use the American English standard.

jayred7 Jan-04-2006

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Chris that's a great link, nice one!

petescully Jan-04-2006

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"aren't"/aaah-nt for me, as a southeastern Brit

Kris1 Jan-03-2006

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Bert Vaux at U Wisconsin has generated some nice maps of U.S. dialect. The link below will take you to maps showing the distribution of the pronunciation of "aunt."

At the end of the day, about 3/4 of the country pronounces "aunt" the same way they pronounce "ant." The Northeast (where I and most of my aunts live) is the region where "ahnt" is most common, but this amounts to about 10% of the U.S. population. Interestingly, about 7% of the population reports that they say "ant" when refering to a particular person, but "ahnt" when refering to the general concept. In my family, most of my aunts are "ahnts" but I have a couple great "ants" who hail from the same western Massachusetts hill town that is otherwise stocked with "ahnts."

Please do not marry into my family if you are part of the 3% of America that pronounces "aunt" with the same vowel sound as is used in "caught. We could not handle the (additional) confusion.

Here is the link:
http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_1.html

Chris_Anderson Jan-03-2006

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Well I live in the Bay Area in California and I've always said "Ont" but I definitely hear people say "Ant" now and then. I seriously cringe when I hear people pronounce it, "Ant."

Cal1 Jan-03-2006

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As with practically ALL vowels, it depends on where you are from.
Furthermore, the way we are writing these variations down is also affected by our own vowels - 'ant' for an American probably means a long 'a', but for somebody from the north of England it means a short 'a'. So if we write down 'ant' or 'ont', even when we give examples of things it may rhyme with (forgetting that those vowels also shift), it might be helpful to use the phonetic alphabet where possible (not easy, of course, when posting on a forum).
And you shouldn't refer to that British pronunciation as 'posh'. Many non-'posh' people use similar vowels.

petescully Jan-03-2006

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I'm Irish and I say 'ant'. I don't usually hear the 'ont' pronunciation but I could imagine someone with a posh British accent saying it.

Gohai Jan-03-2006

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I'm from Tennessee/Alabama. Around here we say "ant" as in the animal (rhymes with "can't"). However, the majority of people of African decent say "ah-nt" (I'm assuming that's what you mean with "ont").

Michael2 Jan-03-2006

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I hear both on the West Coast of the United States.

anonymous4 Jan-02-2006

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We say "ant" in Northern Illinois. I think it's common in the midwest/Northern regions to say it that way.

Amy_A. Jan-02-2006

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