Where does “Ma” come from?

Ma comes from Chinese mǎ, a word of unknown origin and meaning.

Ma (English): Mother, mom, mama

Definitions

  1. Mother, mom, mama

Ancestry of “Ma”, step by step

Ma traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via English My

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishMymegayear; Alternative letter-case form of my...
2Middle EnglishmiFirst-person singular genitive determiner: my
3Middle EnglishminFirst-person singular genitive determiner: my;...
4Old Englishmīnmy, mine
5Proto-Germanic*mīn
6Proto-Germanicmīnazmy, mine; 1st person singular possessive
7Proto-Indo-Europeanméynosmy; mine
8Proto-Indo-Europeanmeito fix, to build fortifications or fences

via Chinese

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Chinese
2Tagalogbamarks a sentence as interrogative; used in...
3Proto-Austronesian*ba

via Japanese

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japaneseinterval; "suffixes some expressions of time to...
2Middle Chinese

Words derived from “Ma

Every word from Proto-Indo-European mei
Ma — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer