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Etymology and origin of the English word mamma

English has two words spelled mamma: the nursery word for a mother, also spelled mama, and the anatomical term for the breast or mammary gland, a borrowing of the Latin word.[1][2][3][4]

Pronunciation

mamma1 mother

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Reduplication
First attested
1555 R. Eden's translation of Peter Martyr

Etymology

The word for a mother is a reduplication of the syllable ma, one of the first sounds made by infants;[2][6][4][7] Barnhart thinks it probably imitative,[1] and Etymonline suggests an imitation of the sound of sucking.[8] Similar words are found in many languages, among them Ancient Greek μάμμη (mámmē, “mother, grandmother”), Latin mamma (“mother; breast”), Lithuanian mamà (“mother”), French maman and Welsh mam (“mother”);[9][1][8][6] Barnhart thinks the word was passed on through the ages rather than formed anew each time, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *mammā.[1] Weekley suggests that the spelling, like that of papa, was influenced by Latin.[10] The later spelling mama is recorded from 1707 or 1727.[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

One's mother: 1555, in R. Eden's translation of Peter Martyr, under the spelling mama.[11] Barnhart's first record of mamma is in Lyly's Euphues (1579),[1] and Etymonline dates it to the 1570s.[8]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline finds the late appearance of the word in English curious, since Middle English already had mome, an aunt or old woman, from the mid 13th century.[8] Johnson (1755) called it the fond word for mother, believed to be found in every language.[12] In the 19th and 20th centuries the word spread, first in African American and Caribbean usage, to a respectful address to an older woman (1810) and in slang to a wife, girlfriend or attractive woman (1916).[11] Etymonline notes that in educated use the stress fell on the last syllable,[8] and the Shorter Oxford gives both pronunciations.[2]

Timeline

  • 1555 – mama, one's mother.[11][3]
  • 1579 – mamma, in Lyly's Euphues.[1]
  • 1810 – a form of address to an older woman (US and Caribbean).[11]
  • 1916 – slang, a wife, girlfriend or attractive woman.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Mother; a child's word for one's mother.[3][4][2]
  2. (slang) A woman, especially a wife or an attractive woman.[3][4]

mamma2 breast, mammary gland

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
Old English Prudentius glosses
Borrowed from
Latin mamma
Ultimate origin
Latin mamma
Etymology tree of mamma2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mamma
Italian mamma
English mamma
From the same root · mamma2
Latin mamilla ← mamma

Etymology

The anatomical term is borrowed from Latin mamma (“breast, udder”),[11][2][1][6][4] the same Latin word that also meant mother.[1][3][9] Old English had already borrowed it as mamme (“teat, breast”),[13][14][15] which glossed Latin papillas,[13] and the OED dates the word from the Old English Prudentius glosses.[11] Barnhart and Hoad, however, date the anatomical term only from the 17th century.[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A breast or udder; a mammary gland: Old English, in the Prudentius glosses.[11] Barnhart's first date is 1693.[1]

Semantic evolution

The word has stayed a technical term of anatomy and zoology, for the milk-secreting organ of female mammals and the undeveloped organ in males.[2][3] In meteorology the plural mammae also names rounded, breast-shaped bulges on the underside of a cloud.[4] The adjective mammary is recorded from the 17th century.[6]

Timeline

  • Old English – mamme, a teat or breast, in glosses.[11][13]
  • 1693 – the anatomical term in Latin form.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (anatomy) The milk-secreting gland of female mammals, such as the breast in women or the udder in cows; a mammary gland, also present in males in undeveloped form.[3][4][2]
  2. (meteorology) In the plural, rounded, breast-shaped bulges hanging from the base of a cumulonimbus cloud.[4]

Word family

  • mammary
  • mammilla
  • mammiferous
  • mammogram
  • mammectomy

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  14. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Mamma.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/mamma. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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