Middle English Dictionary Entry
-aunt suf.
Entry Info
| Forms | -aunt suf. Also -ant, -and. |
| Etymology | AF -aunt, CF -ant (from L -ant-em, -ent -em), suf. of pr.ppls., some of which were used as nouns in OF. The ME var. -and partly represents a change of -ant to -and in AF, partly a confusion with the suffix -and of the English pr.ppl. current in the N & NM. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) In many pr.ppls. taken from OF, e.g. abound-a(u)nt, appar-a(u)nt, ard-a(u)nt, arrog-a(u)nt, charge-a(u)nt, ramp-aunt, -and, etc.; (b) in a number of nouns (orig. ppls.) adopted from OF, as affer-aunt, sembl-a(u)nt, serv-a(u)nt, ten-a(u)nt, -and.
Associated quotations
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