Meaning
11 senses(Canada, US, childish, often)Synonym of mother (“a female parent”).
I love the cookies which mama bakes me every week.
informal terms for a mother
Synonym of mother (“a female parent”).
(Canada, US, childish, figuratively, often)Synonym of mother (“an origin, a source”).
A lesbian partner.
(Caribbean, informal)Used as a (respectful) term of address for a woman, especially an older one.
(slang)A girlfriend.
(slang)A wife.
I need to talk to mama before I buy the car.
(slang)A woman regarded as sexually attractive or (derogatory) promiscuous.
Whoa, that chick in the bikini is a real mama!
Synonym of mother (“a female parent”).
(South Africa, familiar, informal, often, uncommon)Used as a (respectful) term of address for one's mother.
(South Africa, informal, uncommon)A middle-aged black woman.
A middle-aged black woman.
(South Africa, familiar, informal, often, uncommon)Often in the form Mama: used as a (respectful) term of address for an adult woman.
Synonym of mother (“a female parent”).
(Canada, US, childish, obsolete, often)Used preceding a name as a title for a mother.
a name under which Ninkhursag was worshipped, meaning ‘Mother’
Examples
51 sentencesWhere's my mama?
Де моя мама?
ruГде мама?
deWo ist meine Mama?
Mama, why is that person crying?
Mama, is it okay if I go swimming?
I'm not your mama.
Tom was always a mama's boy.
Origin
The origin of the noun is uncertain; it is probably a reduplication of ma, thought to be aThe 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.
Borrowed from Xhosa umama and Zulu umama, sometimes only distinguishable from English mama (see etymology 1) by the context and pronunciation.
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