matertera

Matertera is a Latin term meaning the sister of one’s mother, i.e., a maternal aunt. The word derives from mater, mother, with the feminine suffix -tera, and in classical Latin it designates the aunt on the maternal side. By contrast, amita is the term used for a paternal aunt.

In historical and genealogical contexts, matertera appears in Latin glossaries and scholarly writings to label a specific familial relation. In English-language genealogy, the relation is typically described as “maternal aunt,” but the Latin form may be encountered in academic or translational texts.

There is no widely recognized taxonomic use of the name Matertera in modern biology. Major taxonomic databases do not list an accepted genus, species, or other taxon by that name. If the term were to be adopted as a genus name in the future, it would require formal description and publication under the relevant nomenclatural rules, such as the ICZN for animals or the ICN for plants.

Beyond linguistic and genealogical usage, “Matertera” may occasionally appear as a proper name or fictional label in literature, games, or world-building. However, it does not carry a standard scientific meaning in contemporary science or common parlance.