What is the feminine counterpart for avuncular or is there none or is avuncular gender-neutral?

Answer 1

The established feminine counterpart to "avuncular," which derives from the Latin for "grandfather" (avus) and pertains, strictly speaking, to a maternal uncle, is "materteral." The latter was originally intended to a more humorous effect than the former, which is rather a historical index of patriarchal traditions of authority whereby a mother's brother carries more intrafamilial clout than the mother herself, the father being sufficiently respected to do without the succor of siblings. The Latin for paternal aunt and uncle is, respectively, "amita" and "patruus." For the sake of homology or chiasmus, it seems to me that the feminine counterpart should be derived from "amita" instead of "matertera," if one is to accurately re-map each term onto a matriarchal power structure. Unfortunately, the Oxford English Dictionary does not recognize "amital" or "amitous" or "amitular."

Answer 2

The feminine counterpart for avuncular is "aunt-like" or "avunculine." Avuncular is typically used in a gender-neutral manner to describe someone who is friendly, helpful, or kind like an uncle.