# 阿媽



## Isidore Demsky

Does 阿媽 mean "grandmother" or "my mother"?


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## Romildo

Only "mother". But I think "Mom" is better.

"阿" does not mean anything.
Generally, only some national minorities in China use this word.
母亲 = Mother (More literary)
妈 or 妈妈 = Mom (More colloquial)


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## Isidore Demsky

Romildo said:


> Only "mother". But I think "Mom" is better.
> 
> "阿" does not mean anything.
> Generally, only some national minorities in China use this word.
> 母亲 = Mother (More literary)
> 妈 or 妈妈 = Mom (More colloquial)



Thank you.

If you broke the hànzì down, would they mean anything separately?



> "阿" does not mean anything.
> Generally, only some national minorities in China use this word.



And what does it mean?


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## Romildo

“If you broke......”
Sometimes, yes. For example, "中国" means "China", but "中“ means "middle", "国” means "country".

"And what does it mean?"
To most of us, we seldom use "阿", it just make the word sounds nice. For example, if a girl call a man “阿哥” (Elder brother), it sounds very sweet and soft, only "哥" sounds a little mechanical or stiff.  
We often use "大哥" （Eldest brother）, "李哥" （A brother whose Family name is 李), etc.

Are these what you want?


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## Isidore Demsky

Romildo said:


> “If you broke......”
> Sometimes, yes. For example, "中国" means "China", but "中“ means "middle", "国” means "country".
> 
> "And what does it mean?"
> To most of us, we seldom use "阿", it just make the word sounds nice. For example, if a girl call a man “阿哥” (Elder brother), it sounds very sweet and soft, only "哥" sounds a little mechanical or stiff.
> We often use "大哥" （Eldest brother）, "李哥" （A brother whose Family name is 李), etc.
> 
> Are these what you want?



I'm not sure.

I take it 母 means elder.

Could 母亲be taken to mean elder Mother (dear old mom, or perhaps grandma)?


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## fyl

The context is important to figure out what it exactly means.

I think 阿媽 in Taiwan means something different when pronounced in a different tone (perhaps means old lady or granny?). In mainland China, this word does not have that meaning in Mandarin and is seldom used. If you saw this word in Taiwan, maybe you want to wait for someone from Taiwan to answer this.

As for 母亲, 母 has nothing to do with old or elder. 母亲 can only mean mother, and grandma is not possible.


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## Isidore Demsky

What does 阿妈 mean?

This online Chinese/English Dictionary says it means "grandma."

(and if you break the individual hanzi down, what (if anything) do they mean?)


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## Romildo

Isidore Demsky said:


> What does 阿妈 mean?
> 
> This online Chinese/English Dictionary says it means "grandma."
> 
> (and if you break the individual hanzi down, what (if anything) do they mean?)



OMG， what Chinese are you learning?!
Honestly, I know little about the Chinese language in Taiwan.


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## fyl

Isidore Demsky said:


> What does 阿妈 mean?
> This online Chinese/English Dictionary says it means "grandma."


In your link, 阿妈 has two meanings 1)mamma, 2) also grandma. So I don't know what you mean.
For this kind of non-standard oral words referring people, the exact meaning depends on the dialect. Not just the standard Mandarin in Taiwan and mainland, I believe it is treated differently in all kinds of Chinese dialects.



Isidore Demsky said:


> (and if you break the individual hanzi down, what (if anything) do they mean?)


Romildo has answered this question in #2. 阿 is a meaningless particle. 妈 is basically mom.
When they put together, the meaning does not have to be their meanings combined. For example, 阿媽 might be just a simpler way of writing 阿嬷 (I'm guessing probably this is where the meaning 'grandma' comes from), and 妈 itself can mean 'old woman' (as in 张妈，李妈，老妈子) in some special phrases though people will only come up with 'mom' when you ask it's meaning separately.

It does not make sense to talk about meanings without a context.
For example, if you saw 阿妈 in the song 吉祥三宝, it's 'mom'.
If you saw it in a Qing dynasty TV series and pronounced "a4 ma", it's the Manchu word 'father' and is a typo of 阿玛 (but some dictionaries also accept 阿妈).
If you saw it in a Taiwan context and pronounced "a ma4", it should be 'grandma' and could be written as 阿嬷 (but some dictionaries also accept 阿媽).


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## SuperXW

Asking what does 阿 mean in 阿媽, is like asking what does "my" mean in "mommy"...


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## retrogradedwithwind

阿黄 is perhaps a name of a dog because it is a yellow黄 dog.


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## Ghabi

In Cantonese, aa3 is a vocative particle. For example, if your name is Tom, people would address you as "aa3 Tom".

In the cases of aa3baa4 阿爸, aa3maa1 阿媽 etc, the whole word has been fossilized, so you can use it even when you're not addressing your father or mother face-to-face.

The usage is well attested in ancient Chinese. You can find 阿母 "mother", 阿翁 "father", 阿家/姑 "mother-in-law", 阿誰 "who" etc in old texts.

But since the OP has failed to provide the context in which the word occurs (which dialect? which historical period?), the whole thread remains, and will remain a wild-goose chase.


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## Skatinginbc

阿嬤 (occasionally written as 阿媽 by some people) = grandma (外婆)
阿母 (also written 阿媽) = mother


Isidore Demsky said:


> Does 阿媽 mean "grandmother" or "my mother"?


I think 阿媽 usually means "mother" (cf. 阿媽/阿曼 "mother" in Miao-Yao languages) although some people use it as an alternative spelling (often considered "nonstandard" or perhaps "erroneous") for 阿嬤 "grandma".


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## KayWu

fyl said:


> The context is important to figure out what it exactly means.
> 
> I think 阿媽 in Taiwan means something different when pronounced in a different tone (perhaps means old lady or granny?). In mainland China, this word does not have that meaning in Mandarin and is seldom used. If you saw this word in Taiwan, maybe you want to wait for someone from Taiwan to answer this.
> 
> As for 母亲, 母 has nothing to do with old or elder. 母亲 can only mean mother, and grandma is not possible.



It is true. In Taiwan  阿媽 means grandmother or old lady when pronounced like "阿罵 (Ma)".  It is localism language.


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