Word.ws English Dictionary

Mazu

Syllables: Ma·zu

Mazu proper noun: a Chinese sea goddess, the deified form of Lin Moniang, a medieval Fujianese girl who became revered as a sea goddess and, since the Qing dynasty, especially in Taiwan, more generally as the primary goddess of Heaven. Also the alternative form of Matsu.

Proper noun

Mazu

  1. A Chinese sea goddess, the deified form of Lin Moniang, a medieval Fujianese girl who became revered as a sea goddess and, since the Qing dynasty, especially in Taiwan, more generally as the primary goddess of Heaven.
    • The goddess of the sea is Ma-tsoo-po, called also Teen-how, ‘queen of heaven.’ She is said to have been a virgin, who lived some centuries ago in Fuhkeen, near the district of Fuh-chow On account of having, with great fortitude, and by a kind of miracle, saved her brother who was on the point of...[1832 June, Charles Gutzlaff, “Journal of a residence in Siam, and of a voyage along the coast of China to Mantchou Tartary”, in The Chinese Repository, volume I, number 2, Canton, →OCLC, page 58
    • Taiwan’s first Mazu temple, dating back to the 14th century, can be found here, along with the ancient West Fort Sitai (Xitai) on Siyu (Xiyu) and a wealth of restored houses in the southern Fujian architectural style.2007, Phil Macdonald, “Strait Islands”, in Taiwan, 2nd edition (Travel), National Geographic Society, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 192, column 1

Also used as

Mazu is also the alternative form of Matsu.

Mazu meaning in Thai and Vietnamese

Mazu in Thai

goddess
ม่าจ้อโป๋

Mazu in Vietnamese

goddess
Ma Tổ, Mẫu Tổ, Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu, Thiên Thượng Thánh Mẫu

Forms of Mazu

alternative formMatsu

Origin of Mazu

Borrowed from Mandarin 媽祖／妈祖 (Māzǔ).

Borrowed from Mandarin 馬祖／马祖 (Mǎzǔ).

Questions about Mazu

What does Mazu mean?
Mazu means a Chinese sea goddess, the deified form of Lin Moniang, a medieval Fujianese girl who became revered as a sea goddess and, since the Qing dynasty, especially in Taiwan, more generally as the primary goddess of Heaven.
What is Mazu in Thai?
Mazu in Thai is ม่าจ้อโป๋. See Mazu meaning in Thai.
What part of speech is Mazu?
Mazu is a proper noun.

Words near Mazu in the dictionary

  1. mazouts
  2. Mazovia
  3. Mazovian
  4. Mazovians
  5. mazquf
  6. Mazu
  7. mazuku
  8. mazukus
  9. mazuma
  10. mazumas
  11. mazumdar

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Mazu (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.

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