mummy

/ˈmʌm.i/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

South Asia/ˈməm.mi/

mummy noun: an embalmed human or non-human animal corpse wrapped in linen bandages for burial, especially as practised by the ancient Egyptians and some Native American tribes.

Noun (1)

mummy (countable and uncountable, plural mummies)

(countable) An embalmed human or non-human animal corpse wrapped in linen bandages for burial, especially as practised by the ancient Egyptians and some Native American tribes.
- […] Mr. Pearson proceeds to give a particular description of the very perfect mummy of an Ibis, which forms the chief subject of the present paper.1832, Royal Society (Great Britain), Abstracts of The Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, From 1800 to 1830 inclusive, Volume 1: 1800-1814, page 201
- Leo was the first to discover what these burdens were. `Great heaven!' he said, `they are corpses on fire!' I stared and stared again - he was perfectly right - the torches that were to light our entertainment were human mummies from the caves! On rushed the bearers of the flaming corpses, and...1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
(broadly, countable) A reanimated embalmed human corpse, as a stock character in horror films.
- For many, mummies fascinate more than repel. Our horrific connotations lie not so much with the mummy itself, but in associated fears. The mummy serves, of course, as a general reminder of our own mortality and our fear of death, but this alone is not enough to make it a monster.2007, S. T. Joshi, Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares, volume 1, page 376
(broadly, countable) Any naturally preserved human or non-human animal body.
- 'Mummy,' that is pounded ancient Egyptian, is, I believe, a pigment much used by artists, and especially by those of them who direct their talents to the reproduction of the works of the old masters.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
Synonyms:

mummy brown
(archaic, broadly) A brown pigment originally prepared from the ground-up remains of Egyptian animal or human mummies mixed with bitumen, etc.

Synonyms:

mummy brown
(archaic, uncountable) A pulp.
- Imagine twenty thouſand of them breaking into the midſt of an European Army, confounding the Ranks, overturning the Carriages, battering the Warriors Faces into Mummy, by terrible Yerks from their hinder Hoofs.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Veracity. His Design in Publishing this Work. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London...
- Going up to him, therefore, he laid hold on his lance, and breaking it, began to thresh him so severely, that, in spite of the resistance of his armour, he was almost beaten into mummy […].1755, Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Tobias Smollett, Don Quixote, Volume 1, I.4
(historical, uncountable) A substance used in medicine, prepared from mummified flesh.
- Yet another scatological medicament was obtained from mummy, the material derived from a dried or embalmed human corpse, the most valuable being that imported from Mizraim (ancient Egypt).1978, Benjamin Walker, Encyclopedia of Metaphysical Medicine, Routledge, page 253
- Nonetheless, his book advertises many Paracelsian remedies, including laudanum, mummy, antimony and mercury.2006, Philip Ball, The Devil's Doctor, Arrow, published 2007, page 360
(obsolete, uncountable) A sort of wax used in grafting.

Verb

mummy (third-person singular simple present mummies, present participle mummying, simple past and past participle mummied)

(dated, transitive) To mummify.

Noun (2)

mummy (plural mummies)

(India, New-England, UK, childish, usually) mother.
- “Oh, mummy, would you like the loveliest daughter-in-law in the world? Oh, mummy, I must marry Flora Dewsley. But I know I am not nearly good enough, mummy. She knows nothing of the world and its wickedness, and I — Well, mummy, at school, a fellow learns everything. And no man is perfect, is he...1926, John Steinbeck, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 198, page 9
- Meeting mummy after this visit was not exactly easy.1927, Harper's Magazine, volume 155, page 188

Proper noun capitalized: Mummy

Mummy

(childish, colloquial) One's mother.

mummy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

mummy in Hindi

embalmed corpse: मम्मी mammī
child's term for mother: अम्माँ ammā̃, माँ mā̃, माताजी mātājī

mummy in Tamil

embalmed corpse: மம்மி mammi
child's term for mother: அம்மா ammā

mummy in Urdu

embalmed corpse: ممّی mammī
child's term for mother: اماں ammā̃, امی ammī

More languagesFewer languages

mummy in Bengali: মমি momi
mummy in Telugu: మమ్మీ mammī
mummy in Malayalam: അമ്മ, സുഗന്ധമിട്ടു സൂക്ഷിച്ച ശവം
mummy in Kannada: ರಕ್ಷಿತ ಶವ rakṣita śava, ಮಮ್ಮಿ mammi
mummy in Punjabi: ਮੰਮੀ mammī
mummy in Gujarati: મમી mamī
mummy in Odia: ମମୀ mami
mummy in Sanskrit: अम्बा ambā
mummy in Assamese: আম্মী ammi, আম্মা amma
mummy in Nepali: मम्मी mammī
mummy in Tagalog: momya
mummy in Arabic: مُومِيَاء mūmiyāʔ, مَامَا māmā, مَامَان māmān, أُمِّي ʔummī
mummy in Malay: mumia, ibu, bu, mak
mummy in Indonesian: mumi
mummy in Persian: مومیا mumyâ, مامان mâmân
mummy in Thai: มัมมี่ mam-mîi, คุณแม่ kun mâe, แม่ mɛ̂ɛ
mummy in Vietnamese: xác ướp, uây khyếm mẹ, mẹ
mummy in Myanmar: မံမီရုပ်ကလာပ် mammirupka.lap

Examples of mummy in a sentence

But, more horrible, I had not failed to note that its purplish gleaming body resembled that of a human being - or of a chrysalis encasing one - or of a mummy!1930, Sax Rohmer, The Day the World Ended, published 1969, page ii. 17:
Many people believed in the curse of the mummy, and soon, the curse had become an accepted part of Tut′s legend.2008, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, Mysteries Unwrapped: The Real Monsters, page 2:
You may beat them to a mummy, you may put them upon the rack, you may burn them on a gridiron, […] yet you will never remove them from that innate fidelity […]1837, Mathew Carey, Vindiciae Hibernicae, page 116:
In or near this place is a precious liquor, or mummy, growing, Mumnaky-koobasa they call it, which none presumes to take, it being carefully preserved for the King's sole use.1634, T[homas] H[erbert], A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […]...

All 32 example sentences with mummy

Synonyms of mummy

mummy brown

Forms of mummy

Noun
plural	mummies
alternative US	mommy
alternative form	mummie
Verb
third-person singular present	mummies
present participle	mummying
past participle	mummied
past	mummied

Plural of mummy: mummies

Origin of mummy

From Middle English mummie, from Anglo-Norman mumie, from Middle French momie, from Medieval Latin mumia, from Arabic مُومِيَاء (mūmiyāʔ), from Persian مومیا (mumyâ), from موم (mum, “wax”). Doublet of mumijo.

From mum + -y (diminutive suffix), related to mom and mommy, from mother.

Words formed from mummy

Phrases with mummy

Words that rhyme with mummy

10 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about mummy

What does mummy mean?: Mummy means an embalmed human or non-human animal corpse wrapped in linen bandages for burial, especially as practised by the ancient Egyptians and some Native American tribes.
What is mummy in Hindi?: Mummy in Hindi is मम्मी (mammī), अम्माँ (ammā̃), माँ (mā̃). See Mummy meaning in Hindi.
How do you use mummy in a sentence?: But, more horrible, I had not failed to note that its purplish gleaming body resembled that of a human being - or of a chrysalis encasing one - or of a mummy!
What part of speech is mummy?: Mummy can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce mummy?: Mummy is pronounced /ˈmʌm.i/.
What is the plural of mummy?: The plural of mummy is mummies.

Words near mummy in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: mummy (page history and authors); Mummy (page history and authors); mummy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); আম্মা (Assamese) (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: 2026-09-02

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

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