DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
阿媽
简 阿妈 · 繁 阿媽Mandarin · pinyin ā mā
Meanings
- grandma (paternal) (Tw)
- (dialect) mother
- nurse
- amah
- (Manchu) father
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Mandarin tones
1–1 · a1 ma1
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
3character links1same-tone record
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.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.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 6 senses · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
aa3 maa1
Cantonese word readings for 阿媽. 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
- (regional) mom; mum; mummy
- (regional) woman servant, amah
noun · Etymology 1
- (chiefly Taiwanese Mandarin, Southern Min, Puxian Min, dialectal Eastern Min, Zhao'an Hakka) grandmother
- (Southern Min) elderly woman
name · Etymology 1
- (Hong Kong, chiefly Tanka Cantonese, Weitou Cantonese, Hakka, religion) An epithet of the Fujianese sea goddess Mazu - 媽祖／妈祖 (Māzǔ).
noun · Etymology 2
- (historical) alternative form of 阿瑪 /阿玛 (àma, “dad, daddy, father in Mongolian, Jurchen or Manchu contexts”)
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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