Word.ws English Dictionary

ma

/mɑː/

ma is the abbreviation of milli-arcsecond.

ma is the alternative spelling of my.

ma is the alternative form of mah.

ma is the alternative spelling of mah.

Noun (1)

ma (plural mas)

  1. (colloquial, and in direct address) mother, mama
    • Once the silky gent who ran a barge called the Knuckle Sandwich tried to persuade Borglum's ma and da to sell him their little dwarfish boy for twelve gold coins.2011, Philip Reeve, Scrivener's Moon, Scholastic, →ISBN, page 48
    Synonyms:
    mama, mamma, mater, maw, mom, mommy, mother, mum, mummy
  2. (colloquial) The landlady of a theater.
    • […] that dear little man writing in the guestbook of the "Ma" or theatrical landlady […]1949, Shaw Desmond, The Edwardian Story, page 322

Meaning of my

Determiner

my

  1. Belonging to me.
    • I can't find my book.
  2. Associated with me.
    • My seat at the restaurant was uncomfortable.
  3. Related to me.
    • My parents won't let me go out tonight.
  4. In the possession of me.
    • I have to take my books back to the library soon.

See all 5 meanings of my

Meaning of mah

Particle (1)

mah

  1. (Manglish, Singlish) Asserts that there is a straightforward or self-evident reason for something.
    • — The plants are all dying already.
      — No one here to water them mah...
    Synonyms:
    what

Particle (2)

mah

  1. (colloquial) Used at the end of an affirmative declarative sentence to change it into a yes–no question.
    • Coz must charge daily lei2024 December 8, endlssorrow, “U guys bring smart watch oversea mah”, in HardwareZone Forums

See all 3 meanings of mah

Noun (2)

ma

  1. May.

Noun (3)

ma (uncountable)

  1. Negative space in Japanese art.

Adjective capitalized: MA

MA (not comparable)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of moving average.

Noun (4) capitalized: MA

MA (countable and uncountable, plural MAs)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Master of Arts.
  2. (US, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of mature audience, a television rating.
  3. (US, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of master-at-arms.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: MA

MA (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation, postal) Abbreviation of Massachusetts: a state of the United States.
  2. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Maluku: a province of Indonesia.
  3. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Maranhão: a state of Brazil.
  4. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Mastercard.
    • Shares of Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) moved slightly higher after the deal was announced.2024 March 26, Elisabeth Buchwald, “Visa and Mastercard agree to $30 billion settlement that will lower merchant fees”, in CNN Business

Noun (5) capitalized: Ma

Ma (uncountable)

  1. (informal) Mother, mom, mama.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Ma

Ma

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of May.

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Ma

Ma

  1. A common surname from Chinese of East Asian derivation.

Proper noun (4) capitalized: Ma

Ma

  1. A language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Synonyms of ma

Forms of ma

pluralmas
pluralMAs
alternative formma

Origin of ma

The sound, which parents interpret as a reference to themselves, is very commonly made by infants. For more on the linguistic process whereby infants' monosyllables are tied to ancient word roots for parents, see mama, papa, mātēr, and patēr.

Abbreviation.

From my.

Words formed from ma

Phrases with ma

12 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with ma

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ma

What does ma mean?
Ma means mother, mama.
What is ma the abbreviation of?
Ma is the abbreviation of milli-arcsecond.
What part of speech is ma?
Ma can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ma?
Ma is pronounced /mɑː/.
What is the plural of ma?
The plural of ma is mas.

Words near ma in the dictionary

  1. m8s
  2. m9
  3. M98
  4. M98s
  5. m9s
  6. ma
  7. ma bap
  8. ma baps
  9. Ma Bell
  10. Ma Deuce
  11. Ma Deuces

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ma (page history and authors); MA (page history and authors); Ma (page history and authors); my (page history and authors); mah (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ma.ogg.

Cite this entry: “ma.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ma. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.