Where does “-aunt” come from?
-aunt (Middle English) comes from Old French -ant, from Latin -āns, from Latin -ns, from Proto-Indo-European -ónts, from Hungarian önt, from Hungarian ön, from Hungarian ön-, from Turkish ön — sound, voice.
Ancestry of “-aunt”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | -ant | used to form the present participle of verbs |
| 2 | Latin | -āns | Ending of the present active participle of first conjugation verbs; see -ns |
| 3 | Latin | -ns | -ing; ending of the present active participle |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | -ónts | Derives nouns denoting body parts |
| 5 | Hungarian | önt | to pour; to cast; accusative singular of ön |
| 6 | Hungarian | ön | you |
| 7 | Hungarian | ön- | self- |
| 8 | Turkish | ön | front |
| 9 | Ottoman Turkish | اوك | voice (of human or animal); sound |
| 10 | Proto-Turkic | ǖn | sound, voice |