Revised as of
24 June 2023
When I read about Anti Jane, I’m more inclined to think of Jane Fonda than my dad’s sister, Aunt Jane.
I do realize that it can be confusing when aunt can be pronounced aw-nt, ahnt, or ant, but it’s no excuse for misspelling it.
Depending upon pronunciation, this Word Confusion pair can be an heterograph.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Ant | Aunt |
|---|---|
Ant on Leaf is Luke Elstad’s own work in Minnesota and is under GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0, or CC BY 2.5 licenses, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Aunt Jemima Logo is courtesy of Quaker Oats Company, via Wikimedia Commons. — Aunt Jemima brings back memories for me of yummy pancakes when I was a kid. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun 1
Plural for noun: ants |
Noun
Plural: aunts |
| Noun: A small insect, often with a sting, that usually lives in a complex social colony with one or more breeding queens. It is wingless except for fertile adults, which often form large mating swarms, and is proverbial for industriousness. 1 Prefix: Variant spelling of anti- before a vowel or h 2 Suffix: [Forming adjectives] Denoting attribution of an action or state 3 [Forming nouns] Denoting an agent |
Noun: The sister of one’s father or mother or the wife of one’s uncle
[Chiefly New England and South Midland U.S.] A term of respectful address to an older woman who is not related to the speaker [Slang] An aging male homosexual |
| Examples: | |
| Noun: Geez, he sure has ants in his pants. Better get the exterminator in to get rid of those ants. Jenny followed a line of ants, each carrying a grain bigger than themselves, back to their nest. Prefix: Henry needs some antacids. We had to give Rover an anthelmintic. Suffix: She had an expectant air about her. Didn’t you use deodorant this morning? Any rocket needs a propellant. Crap, Peter needs to put coolant in the radiator again. Oh, this breeze is so pleasant. That woman is a constant pain! |
Noun: Aunt B was the alpha for the bouda clan in Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series. Aunt Mary bakes the best brownies. Uncle Paul and Aunt Jane moved to Florida after they retired. Oh, my sainted aunt! Now here is an old, tough aunt. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: antlike Noun: ant-thrush, anthill |
Adjective: auntlike Noun: auntie, aunty |
| History of the Word: | |
|
Middle English from the Old French ante, which is from the Latin amita. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Ant versus Aunt
Apple Dictionary.com
Pinterest Photo Credits:
A Woman Sweeping Her Front Porch is courtesy of the Public Health Image Library by CDC/Dawn Arlotta, via Free Stock Photos while Ant is via VisualHunt; both are in the public domain.
