different between flaunt vs aunt

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fl??nt/
• (some accents) IPA^(key): /fl??nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fl?nt/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /fl?nt/
• Rhymes: -??nt, -??nt

Etymology 1

Of North Germanic origin. Perhaps related to Norwegian flanta (“to show off, wander about”), Icelandic flana (“to rush about, act rashly or heedlessly”) and then also to French flâner (“to wander around, loiter”).

Alternatively, it could be related to Swedish flankt (“loosely, flutteringly”) (compare English flaunt-a-flaunt), from flanka (“waver, hang and wave about, ramble”), a nasalised variant of flakka (“to waver”), related to Middle English flacken (“to move to and fro, flutter, palpitate”). See flack.

Alternative forms

• flant (obsolete)

Verb

flaunt (third-person singular simple present flaunts, present participle flaunting, simple past and past participle flaunted)

1. (intransitive, archaic) To wave or flutter smartly in the wind.
   • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Library of America, 1985, p.26:

     The house came into sight, above the cedar grove beyond whose black interstices an apple orchard flaunted in the sunny afternoon.

2. (transitive) To parade, display with ostentation.

   She's always flaunting her designer clothes.
3. (intransitive, archaic or literary) To show off, as with flashy clothing.
   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull

     You flaunt about the streets in your new gilt chariot.

   • 1856, Dinah Craik, John Halifax Chapter VI,

     [T]he younger belles had begun to flaunt in the French fashions of flimsy muslins, shortwaisted— narrow-skirted.

   • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew Chapter XXV,

     […] and Mrs. Wix seemed to flaunt there in her finery.

Usage notes

• Do not confuse with flout.

Translations

Noun

flaunt (plural flaunts)

1. (obsolete) Anything displayed for show.

Etymology 2

Verb

flaunt (third-person singular simple present flaunts, present participle flaunting, simple past and past participle flaunted)

1. (proscribed) To flout.

English

Etymology

From Middle English aunte, from Anglo-Norman aunte, from Old French ante, from Latin amita (“father's sister”). Displaced native Middle English modrie (“aunt”) (from Old English m?dri?e (“maternal aunt”); compare Old English faþu, faþe (“paternal aunt”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian, New England, AAVE, some other US areas) enPR: änt, IPA^(key): /?(?)nt/

  Rhymes: -??nt

  Homophone: aren't (in some non-rhotic accents)

• (Northern England, Canada, General American) enPR: ?nt, IPA^(key): /ænt/ (in the US, this is the most common pronunciation in all regions except New England and Virginia)

  Rhymes: -ænt

  Homophone: ant

• (Southern Hiberno-English) IPA^(key): /æ?nt/ (not homophonous with "ant")
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ant/
• (Canada, Maritimes) IPA^(key): /?nt/

  Rhymes: -?nt

• (New England) enPR: ônt, IPA^(key): /?nt/

  Rhymes: -??nt

• (Southern American English, occasionally) IPA^(key): /e?nt/

  Homophone: ain't

Noun

aunt (plural aunts)

1. The sister or sister-in-law of one’s parent.
   • 1923, P.G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves:

     As a rule, you see, I'm not lugged into Family Rows. On the occasions when Aunt is calling to Aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps and Uncle James's letter about Cousin Mabel's peculiar behaviour is being shot round the family circle... the clan has a tendency to ignore me.

2. (endearing) The female cousin of one’s parent.
3. (endearing) A woman of an older generation than oneself, especially a friend of one's parents, by means of fictive kin.
4. (obsolete) Any elderly woman.
5. (obsolete) A procuress or bawd.

Synonyms

• auntie, aunty (diminutive)
• auntyji (India, as a respectful term of address)
• naunt (nonstandard, proscribed, dated)

Antonyms

• (with regard to gender) uncle
• (with regard to ancestry) niece, nephew

Hypernyms

• (sibling of someone's parent) auncle, pibling (nonstandard)

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Irish: aint

Translations

Several languages distinguish between blood aunts (one’s parent’s sister) and in-law aunts (one’s parent’s sister-in-law), some distinguish between paternal and maternal aunts, and some distinguish between one’s parent’s older siblings and younger siblings.

See also

• materteral

References

Further reading

• aunt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• -naut, Tuna, naut., tuan, tuna