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.
Transcript of “Materteral”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Carlita Costi. I’m calling you from Bayside, Texas.
Welcome to the show, Carlita. What can we help you with?
I’m wondering about the word avuncular, meaning like an uncle.
Okay.
I want to know if there is a way to say like an ant.
I’ve never run across it. To my knowledge, I’ve never heard it.
So you want a one-word answer instead of aunt-like or aunt-like?
Yes. I live in South Texas. We have a lot of Spanish speakers.
And I don’t know if you know the Spanish word tia, which means aunt.
Right.
Okay, well, there’s kind of a tia culture.
The tias do almost everything, like from matchmaking to making tamales.
And so, you know, there’s kind of a need for that, like an ant, like a thea.
Oh, I see.
And I have wondered about the word, and I’ve never seen one, and I wanted to see if there is one.
And if not, maybe why not?
So on the uncle side, when we say avuncular, we don’t always mean exactly like an uncle.
We mean jovial, friendly, kind of goofy, maybe telling little silly jokes.
Kindly to younger people.
Boiling a little bit, but not overly invested in anyone else’s happiness.
Yeah.
And so aunt-like, where you don’t mean she behaves like your mother’s sister, you mean that she is…
Sort of like a godmother.
Okay, got it.
Yeah.
So she’s a connector of people.
She’s probably very social.
She is bustling around the edges of every social situation, trying to make everything work.
That kind of person.
Yes, exactly.
Yeah.
Well, one suggestion I’ve seen for that term is antique, like A-U-N-T.
Oh, really?
But that’s got another layer, right?
Yeah, that’s got another layer.
That does have another layer.
Yeah, even with that U in there, I think it has another layer.
And I’m a proud ant, so I don’t necessarily recommend that one unless you’re joking.
There is a similarly Latin-derived term that refers to somebody’s ant.
And it’s matertural, which is…
Okay, I’ve seen that one, but I’ve never heard it used.
Yeah, it’s not used commonly.
M-A-T-E-R-T-E-R-A-L.
There’s one historical use before the modern age when people started asking this question a lot.
I mean, outside of people asking if there’s a word for this, this word is almost never used.
Right.
Matertural.
I see.
It’s really interesting that in English we kind of have this little hole for that place, right?
That’s what I thought.
Would you like to propose one then?
No, I don’t have one.
All right.
You know, I would just say antish, I guess.
It’s complicated, though, because when we say antish, there’s all the obvious jokes.
What do you mean? She’s got six legs, things like that.
Yeah, right, right. Okay.
Yeah, and it doesn’t sound as positive, I don’t think, as a vuncular.
No, it doesn’t. No, no.
I would rather have a friendly word.
Well, matur-tra-ol is your answer, Carlita, but I’m afraid there’s no joy in that answer.
Okay.
All right.
Thank you.
You know what?
We have a whole world full of creative listeners who are bound to come up with something else,
And we’ll share those on future shows, all right?
Sounds good.
Thank you for your call, Carlita.
Bye-bye.
Thanks a lot.
My pleasure.
All right.
Bye-bye.
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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.”