mama

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Mother, female parent.

   All the flowers that you planted, mama, in the backyard / All died when you went away

2. 2
   noun

   informal terms for a mother

3. 3
   name

   a Bantoid language spoken in Nigeria

Etymology

Originally from baby talk. Possibly influenced by Middle English mome (“mother, aunt”), from Old English *mōme, from Proto-West Germanic *mōmā, from Proto-Germanic *mōmǭ (“mother, aunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂-méh₂, reduplication of *méh₂- (“mother”), related to German Muhme (“aunt”), Latin mamma (“mother, nurse”), Irish mam (“mother”), Lithuanian mama, moma (“mother”).