Dictionary

materteral en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /məˈtɜɹtəɹ(ə)l/ (General-American)
• (General-American) audio
• (Southern-England) audio
• [-ɾə-] (General-American)
• /məˈtɜːtəɹl̩/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin māterteralbor. Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisbor. Old French -albor. ▲ Latin -ālis Old French -elbor. ▲ Latin -ālisbor. Middle English -al English -al English materteral Learned borrowing from Latin mātertera (“maternal aunt”), + from -al (suffix forming adjectives). Mātertera is derived from māter (“mother”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (“mother”)) + ‑tera (feminine form of ‑ter (suffix forming nouns)).

Meanings

1. (humorous, rare) Of or relating to, or in the manner of, an aunt.
   • A materteral lady told me that people come here from the city in search of peace. 2013 October 5, Bee Rowlatt, “Japan’s new luxury sleeper train [print edition: Suite surrender on the rails]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Travel section), London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Nov 2013, page T9:
   • [A] venerable matron and her virgin sister, who had passed the great climacteric, […] exclaimed with maternal and materteral anxiety, that the legislature ought to prohibit such dangerous sports; since the unavoidable accidents, to which human life and limb are exposed, are quite sufficient without increasing the number of them by wantonness and temerity. 1823 December, [W. Taylor], “Art. 22. An Elementary Course of Gymnastic Exercises; Intended to Develope and Improve the Physical Powers of Man. By Peter Henry Clias, […] Sherwood and Co. 1823. Art. 23. Instructions in All Kinds of Gymnastic Exercises, as Taught and Practised in the Gymnastic Institutions of Germany. […] By a Military Officer. […] Whittakers. 1823. [book reviews]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume CII, London: […] A[ndrew] & R[obert] Spottiswoode, […], →OCLC, page 447:
   • And one might say, "Without prejudice to the question whether I really have inherited ten million dollars from a rich aunt, I propose to talk and act as if I had: I will write checks for vast amounts …" It may be that stipulations about parts and wholes are, in some way that undermines my materteral analogies, unlike stipulations about aunts and legacies. 1990, Peter Van Inwagen, “Preface”, in Material Beings, Ithaca, N.Y.; London: Cornell University Press, →ISBN, page 9:
   • Only some insistent pleading (materteral rather than avuncular) had changed their mind. 2004, S[aif] Rahman, “Pilgrim Isles [A Kindness at Random]”, in Archipelago, [United Kingdom]: Twenty First Century Publishers, →ISBN, page 150:
   • An aunt is always a jocular subject. If a man foozles at golf, he does not say, 'Oh, my cousin, my brother, or my grandfather!' He says, 'Oh, my aunt!' Possibly, general, the Persian is equally deficient in the materteral instinct. 1900 October, Max Pemberton, “Pro Patria. [Chapter] XVI.”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume XXIV, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Frank A[ndrew] Munsey, […], →OCLC, page 79, column 1:
   • [T]he pure line theory demands that the offspring shall be as highly correlated with the grand-maternal or the materteral organism as with the maternal, and […] this condition was satisfied in neither case. 1928 December 22, Karl Pearson, “Eugenics Now and Hereafter”, in Nature: A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Science, volume 122, number 3086, London: Macmillan & Co., […], →OCLC, page 954, column 2:
   • You can picture the stately materteral form— / A full-blown Atè, big with doom! 1867, J[oseph] Noel Paton, “Perdita”, in Spindrift, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 6:

Forms

Coordinates

paternal · maternal · avuncular

Synonyms

auntish · auntyish · auntlike · materterine

Translations (2)

pl ciotczyny (of or relating to, or in the manner of, an aunt) · pl cioteczny (of or relating to, or in the manner of, an aunt)