Home » Segments » Materteral

Materteral

Play episode

We have the word avuncular to mean like an uncle, but is there one word for describing someone or something aunt-like? Materteral is one option, though it’s rarely used. This is part of a complete episode.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

1 comment
  • Interesting question. I suggest “auntly” (an existing English word, albeit probably not much more common that materteral–though it’s at least in Webster’s Unabridged online, which materteral is not). Or maybe “auntily,” which in some pronunciations could echo “jauntily.” Or maybe “aunt-wise,” which could have nice undertones. “She was an auntly woman, and helped out at the reception very auntily; but when I jumped for the bouquet, she gave me an aunt-wise look.”
    Or maybe, since the original context is amongst Hispanic tias, “tiamente.”

More from this show

Horsengoggle

Need a way to select someone from a group to be a recipient of something? Horsengoggle it! Kids have been horsengoggling for a long time, and sometimes children start out this counting game in German, with Einz, Zwei, Drei, Horsengoggle! No one...

Might as Well, Can’t Dance

Byron in Florence, South Carolina, is curious about his grandmother’s expression might as well, can’t dance, which she used when someone suggested an activity. This saying, as well as longer versions, are rooted in the idea of weather...

Segments