Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
intj
Often preceded by oh: used to express approval, joy, surprise, etc.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Caribbean, US
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
a Bantoid language spoken in Nigeria
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Synonym of mother (“a female parent”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Canada, US, childish, often
Synonyms: mother
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Synonym of mother (“a female parent”).
Synonym of mother (“an origin, a source”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Canada, US, childish, figuratively, often
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: mother
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Synonym of mother (“a female parent”).
Used preceding a name as a title for a mother.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Canada, US, childish, obsolete, often
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A lesbian partner.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: LGBTQ slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Used as a (respectful) term of address for a woman, especially an older one.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Caribbean, informal
Qualifier: US (originally African-American Vernacular)
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A girlfriend.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang
Qualifier: chiefly US (originally African-American Vernacular)
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A wife.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang
Qualifier: chiefly US (originally African-American Vernacular)
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A woman regarded as sexually attractive or (derogatory) promiscuous.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang
Qualifier: chiefly US (originally African-American Vernacular)
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Synonym of mother (“a female parent”).
Used as a (respectful) term of address for one's mother.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: South-Africa, familiar, informal, often, uncommon
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A middle-aged black woman.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: South-Africa, informal, uncommon
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A middle-aged black woman.
Often in the form Mama: used as a (respectful) term of address for an adult woman.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: South-Africa, familiar, informal, often, uncommon
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Synonym of mother (“to treat (someone) as a mother would be expected to treat her child; to nurture”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: informal, transitive, uncommon
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: mother
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To call (someone) "mama" (noun sense).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: informal, obsolete, rare, transitive, uncommon
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To call out "mama".
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: informal, intransitive, uncommon
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
a name under which Ninkhursag was worshipped
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: Semitic deity
noun
informal terms for a mother
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: ma, mamma, mom, momma, mommy, mammy, mum, mummy
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: mother, female parent
History
The origin of the noun is uncertain; it is probably a reduplication of ma, thought to be a sound made by babies when breastfeeding. The word is possibly influenced by Middle French maman (“mother”) (modern French maman), mamme (both probably from Latin mamma (“breast; nurse; (childish) mother, mama; grandmother”), probably cognate with Ancient Greek μᾰ́μμη (mắmmē, “breast; (childish) mother, mama; (Koine) grandmother”), both possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh2- (“to nurse; mama, mother”)), but this is also uncertain as all the words could have developed independently as onomatopoeias. Etymology 1, noun sense 3 (“(Caribbean) used as a term of address for a woman”) is possibly partly from a West African language; compare Akan mmá, mmaa (“woman”). The interjection and verb are derived from the noun.
Borrowed from Xhosa umama and Zulu umama, sometimes only distinguishable from English mama (see etymology 1) by the context and pronunciation.
