Ma
/mɑː/noun
An informal term for one’s mother.
Did you know?“Ma” is not directly inherited as a shortened form of modern “mother”; it is a nursery word built around the ancient, widespread instinct to use nasal sounds for caregiving figures.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*méh₂tēr
“Mother; the reconstructed ancestral kinship term behind many Indo-European words.”
Ancient Sanskrit
Sanskrit
mātṛ́
“Mother.”
Ancient Greek
Greek
mḗtēr
“Mother.”
Classical Latin
Latin
māter
“Mother; source of English maternal, maternity, and matrix.”
Old English
Old English
mōdor
“Mother; the ancestor of modern English mother.”
18th Century
English
ma
“An informal or child’s form of address for one’s mother.”