Home British & World English mam

Definition of mam in English:

mam

noun

  • 1British informal, dialect One's mother.

    ‘my mam would have had a fit if I'd gone out dressed like that’
    as name ‘I had to look after the other children while Mam worked’

  • 2US informal A term of respectful or polite address used for any woman.

    ‘‘You all ride them horses down here?’ ‘Yes, mam.’’

Origin

Mid 16th century (in mam (sense 1)): perhaps imitative of a child's first syllables (see mama); mam (sense 2) is a variant of ma'am.

Pronunciation

mam

/mam/