Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “mommy” come from?

Mommy derives from English mom with the Middle English diminutive suffix -y, from Middle French -ie, from Latin -ia, ultimately tracing through Latin -ivus and Proto-Indo-European -kos.

mommy (English): Mother; To treat someone like a mother would; to...

Definitions

  1. Mother; To treat someone like a mother would; to...

Ancestry of “mommy”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-yAdded to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives...
2Middle English-yDesignates an adjective, in many cases formed by...
3Old English-iġ-y, -ic
4Proto-West Germanic-gForms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a...
5Proto-Germanic-gaz-y
6Proto-Indo-European-ḱos-y, -ic

Words derived from “mommy”

  • mommyhood
  • stepmommy
  • grandmommy
  • mommyism
  • mommyish
  • מאמי
  • Mammi
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos →