auntie
noun
a term of affection/respect for an older woman
What does auntie mean?
Auntie, sometimes spelled aunty, is used in some cultures as a term of affection and respect for an older woman, whether or not she is the sister of one’s father or mother, or the wife of one’s uncle or aunt.
Examples of auntie
Auntie is used frequently in countries such as India and throughout Africa, where age signifies dignity and the elderly are considered an asset to the community rather than a burden. In Black culture, younger people sometimes use the title to signal respect toward an older woman who has proven to be audacious and wise.
—Dahleen Glanton, The Chicago Tribune, 28 Jan. 2020
His [Zohran Mamdani’s] campaign has also worked to engage Black voters that other Democratic campaigns often neglect, like Black Muslims and West African immigrants. Organizers with those groups said that Mr. Mamdani’s identity as an African-born Muslim helped capture the attention of those voters, who were also inspired by his message about affordability. “The aunties are calling and saying, ‘I want to go door-knocking,’” said AjiFanta Marenah, vice president of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, who helped organize for Mr. Mamdani. “That’s never happened before.”
—In my desi community, aunties and uncles are pleased to note, pedantically, that Mahatma Gandhi inspired Martin Luther King Jr.
—The notoriously outspoken Democrat [Representative Maxine Waters], who sports her Millennials-bestowed moniker “Auntie Maxine” like a Yankees cap pulled low – is also unapologetic about telling Black women to take their seat at the throne of the table of Democracy, once and for all.
—I started working on the show on Zoom in the pandemic, thinking that we would never return back to civilization. I just basically wrote up until the moment we were at that day. The show would end with for example, ‘day 180,’ in parentheses ‘today.’ And then I would stand on my bed and bow. We’d do a Q&A, and all the aunties who are sewing remotely from their homes turned their cameras on. Because basically I was just entertaining them.
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Where does auntie come from?
This use of auntie is an extension of auntie as used for the sister of one’s father or mother or for the wife of one’s uncle or aunt. Auntie was formed by adding the diminutive suffix -ie (“little one” or “dear little one”) to aunt, which traces back to the Latin amita.
How is auntie used?
Although auntie is usually intended as a term of endearment and respect, some women do not find the term endearing, and may even find it disrespectful, overly familiar, or ageist in some if not all contexts, and for a variety of reasons.
No woman wants to be disrespected—and Black women know when they are being dissed. At its best, “auntie” is reverential, but that doesn’t mean you can always use it for someone who isn’t family. Nikole Hannah-Jones Jones, creator of the New York Times’ The 1619 Project, is the latest public figure to say she doesn’t want to be referred to in that way. On March 4, she tweeted, “Please don’t call me auntie unless I am actually your auntie.” The comment re-exposed a cultural divide over intent versus action and the role that language plays in the devaluation of Black women. … Additionally Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King expressed disdain for the slang term as well, with Winfrey saying to Oprah Daily, “I cringe being called Auntie or Mama by anybody other than my nieces or godchildren, except if I’m in Africa, where it’s the custom for everybody to refer to anyone older as ‘Sister,’ or ‘Auntie,’ depending on the age difference.” Racialized gendered ageism can lead to Black women being stereotyped and shut out of opportunities, particularly around employment.
—If you’re an Indian American, you’ll probably just call her “aunty.” “Aunty” and “Uncle” have become easy fallbacks when addressing people including distant associates, neighbors, acquaintances, and even total strangers who are older than oneself. … As an adult woman who has also been called “aunty” one too many times by too many adults who I barely know, I have a bone to pick with what I believe has become a hapless naming practice.
—Though each woman has described her own reasons for rejecting the term, the common thread is the history of older Black women being referred to as Auntie by white people during slavery and Jim Crow. It was, in that context, at once a sign of age and a mark of diminishment. Black women were deemed unworthy of being called Mrs. or ma’am, or, as we say in U.S. Black English, “putting a handle on their names.”
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