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# mama

«mama» in Mova's school dictionary: **a word for mother, often used by young children or in…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a mama, mamas; also mamma, momma)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (informal, child's word) Mama is a word for mother, often used by young children or in families; it is one of the first words babies say. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#m1)

2) (informal, US) «Mama» or «momma» is used as an everyday word for mum. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#m2)

3) (slang) «Mama» can be a friendly or flirty word for a woman, and «big mama» means a large or powerful woman. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#m3)

4) (French, Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian, Mandarin and many other languages) «mama» or «mamá» or «māma» also means mother in many languages, because babies easily say «ma-ma»; in Ukrainian «мама» (mama) is the everyday word for mum. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In stories, songs and nursery rhymes «mama» is a loving word for mother: «Mama bear», «Hush, little baby, don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird». In everyday British English «mum» or «mummy» is more usual, in American «mom» or «mommy», in Australia and NZ «mum», in Ireland «mam» or «mammy»; «mama» is common among families from many backgrounds and languages. Phrases: mama bear, mama's boy, mama mia (from Italian «mamma mia», «my mother!» — an exclamation of surprise).

### examples

- The baby's first word was «mama». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#x1)
- «Mama, can I have a biscuit?» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#x2)
- In the story, Mama Bear's porridge was too cold. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#x3)
- (Ukrainian) «Мама» (mama) means mum in Ukrainian. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#x4)
- (Mandarin) «māma» means mum in Chinese. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#x5)
- (informal) He's a real mama's boy who does everything his mum says. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#x6)
- «Mamma mia!» shouted the chef when the pizza burned. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#x7)
- My friend calls her mother Mama, and I call mine Mum. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#x8)
- Mama purchased thirty copies of the paper, that she might cut out the paragraph and send it to friends and acquaintances. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/#x9)

### note

Countable: a mama, mamas. Pronounced «MAH-muh» (US also «muh-MAH» in old British use). Capital M when used as a name: «Thank you, Mama.» but small m with «my»: «my mama». Spellings vary: mama, mamma, momma. Many unrelated languages have a similar word because «ma» is an easy baby sound.

### In the corpora

- [MAma means mum; jokes about someone's mum can upset people, so they are best avoided.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/5-how-old-where-from-meet-the-family/12/)
- [MAmo! is the calling form of MAma: what you shout to call Mum.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/7-calling-mum-and-granny-one-to-eight/4/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «mama» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mama/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.