Etymologically
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mom

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /mɒm/, US /mɑːm/[1]

Etymology

It is a shortened and altered form of momma,[2][3][4] itself an alteration of mamma,[2][5] and partly a variant of mam and mum.[6] Etymonline suggests a shortening of mommy.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mother: 1867, American English, in Etymonline;[5] 1894 in Barnhart, the OED and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate,[2][7][3] and 1846 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the Historical Thesaurus.[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Momma is recorded from 1884 and mommy from 1902, both American;[2] British English has the similar formations mum (1823) and mummy (1839).[2] The SOED notes a use for a matriarchal American mother, as in Mom's apple pie.[6] Mom-and-pop, of a small business run by a married couple, is by 1946.[5]

Timeline

  • 1846 – mom.[8][9]
  • 1884 – momma.[2]
  • 1894 – mom (Barnhart, OED).[2][7]
  • 1946 – mom-and-pop.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (chiefly North American, informal) Mother.

Word family

  • momism
  • mom-and-pop
  • mommy
  • supermom
  • soccer mom

Usage notes

The SOED marks mom as colloquial and chiefly North American;[6] the British equivalent is mum.[2]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)