aft

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɑːft/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /æft/

  • Audio (Southern California):

    (file)

  • Audio (Texas):

    (file)

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɐːft/
• Rhymes: -ɑːft, -æft

From Old English æftan (“behind”); possibly originally superlative of of (“off”). See after.

aft (usually uncountable, plural afts)

2. (nautical) The rear part (after end) of a ship or other vessel.

   Synonyms: stern, poop

   Antonyms: bow, stem, forestem, fore, prow, prore

   Holonyms: watercraft < vessel

aft (comparative further aft or more aft, superlative furthest aft or most aft)

1. (nautical) At, near, or towards the stern of a vessel (with the frame of reference within the vessel).
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 183:

     I came safe on board, but I felt anything but easy about the boat and the boy; my thoughts were not where they should be, for every moment I had to give the boat and the boy a look, and at last I saw a sea strike the boat aft, which gave it a send forward and under, and the next moment he was gone.

• abaft, astern

• fore, forward

• after, fore-and-aft

aft (comparative further aft or more aft, superlative furthest aft or most aft)

1. located at the back of a boat, ship, or airplane

Clipping of afternoon.

aft (plural afts)

1. (dated slang) Alternative form of afternoon: the time of day from noon until early evening.
   • 1898, The Hotel/Motor Hotel Monthly, volume 6, page 27:

     A gents' toilet room might be found in a house that caters for the cheaper class of theatrical patronage, where the slangy language of the "goin' to the mat this aft?" style prevails. A gents toilet room is not found in the Southern Hotel. It either "men's" or "gentlemen's".

   • 2016, Sally Wainwright, 49:45 from the start, in Happy Valley, season 2, episode 1, spoken by Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire):

     There's gonna be an announcement later this aft, but he's targeting vulnerable people like yourselves, alright?

• See Thesaurus:afternoon

• ATF, FAT, FTA, TAF, TFA, Taf, fat, taf

• aftë
• aht — Arbëresh
• ohtë, avtë, taftë — North Gheg

From Proto-Albanian *aweita, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁-. Compare Ancient Greek ἀῦτμη (aûtmē, “breath”), Welsh awel (“breeze”).^[1][2]

aft m (plural afte, definite afti, definite plural aftet)

1. draft (wind, bellows)
2. waft, whiff
3. warmth from a fire

• shkulm

• afsh, avë

• afte

Ultimately from Ancient Greek ἄφθα (áphtha). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): /ɑft/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: aft
• Rhymes: -ɑft

aft f (plural aften, diminutive aftje n)

1. aphtha (a sore in the mucous membrane of the mouth)

• oft (Older)

From Middle English ofte, from Old English oft, from Proto-Germanic *ufta.

• IPA^(key): /ɑft/
• (Northern Isles) IPA^(key): /aft/

aft (comparative after, superlative aftest)

1. often
   • 1786, Robert Burns, To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough:

     The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

aft (comparative mair aft, superlative maist aft)

1. (rare) frequent

• afttimes
• aftwhiles

• “aft, adv. and (rarely) adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.

Borrowed from French aphte, from Ancient Greek ἄφθα (áphtha).

aft (definite accusative afdı, plural aftlar)

1. aphtha

• “aft”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu