阿姨
àyí · HSK 4
child's address to woman of similar age as parents
👩 sounds like 'ah-yee' — 阿 (ah, prefix for names) + 姨 (mother's sister)
阿 is a familiar prefix attached to names or kin terms; 姨 specifically means mother's sister. Together 阿姨 became the everyday word for aunt, and by extension any older woman a child addresses politely.
姨 — woman radical 女 + yí 夷
A semantic-phonetic compound: 女 (woman) gives the meaning, while 夷 supplies the sound 'yí'. Originally referring to a mother's sister (maternal aunt), it later extended to a wife's sister and, in modern usage, as a polite address for an older woman of one's mother's generation.