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媽媽

简妈妈 · 繁媽媽

Mandarin · pinyin mā ma

mama
mommy
mother
Classifier: 個 gè, 位 wèi

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Characters in this entry

媽: mā · mother, mama
妈: mā · mother, mama

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–5 · ma1 ma5

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

媽媽 · find source passages ↗ · 妈妈 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 6 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

maa4 maa1

Cantonese word readings for 媽媽. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun · Etymology 1

(informal) mum (mom); mama
(Internet slang, figurative) a person who speaks or acts in a motherly way
(dialectal, colloquial) breast
(ACG, figurative) character designer (female)

noun · Etymology 2

(Northern Min, Ninghua Hakka, dialectal Wu, Fuliang Huizhou) paternal grandmother

noun · Etymology 3

(Northern Min) mother-in-law (husband's mother)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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