mummy

¹ American  

[muhm-ee] / ˈmʌm i /

noun

• mummies
  plural

1. the dead body of a human being or animal, treated with natural or chemical desiccants and preservatives as part of preparation for burial, as notably practiced in ancient Egyptian and South American cultures.

   The Egyptian mummies on display, characteristically wrapped in multiple layers of linen, are more than 3,500 years old.

2. a dead body dried and preserved by nature.

3. a withered or shrunken living being.

   When this mummy of a guy walked in, we were not expecting him to say that he’s our new fitness coach!

4. a dry, shriveled fruit, tuber, or other plant organ, resulting from any of several fungal diseases.

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verb (used with object)

mummied, mummying

1. Archaic. to make into or cause to resemble a mummy; mummify.

mummy ² American  

[muhm-ee] / ˈmʌm i /

noun

Chiefly British Informal.

• mummies
  plural

1. mommy.

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mummy ¹ British  

/ ˈmʌmɪ /

noun

1. an embalmed or preserved body, esp as prepared for burial in ancient Egypt

2. obsolete the substance of such a body used medicinally

3. a mass of pulp

4. a dark brown pigment

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mummy ² British  

/ ˈmʌmɪ /

noun

1. a child's word for mother 1

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unmummied
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mummies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mummy¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English mummie, from Medieval Latin mummia, from Arabic mūmiyah “mummy,” literally, “bitumen,” from Persian mūm “wax”

Origin of mummy²

First recorded in 1815–25; mum ⁴ + -y ²

Explanation

A mummy is either a preserved dead body or a British person’s mom, ideally not at the same time. In ancient Egypt, preserving a body as a mummy was part of a religious belief in an afterlife. Today, some bodies are embalmed and preserved after death, but rarely with the same ceremony that preparing a mummy involved. Most mummies were wrapped in cloth and treated with chemicals, after having their internal organs removed. Many countries have ancient mummy traditions, including China, Libya, Iran, and Italy, as well as the country most famous for its mummies, Egypt. The word comes from the Arabic mumiyah.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mummy mummies mummied

The newly identified yeasts came from skin samples, meltwater inside the mummy, and stomach content samples.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

The team also made an unexpected discovery: cold-adapted yeast species that likely came from the glacier and have remained on the mummy into the present day.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

The distributor explained that the character depicted was a "living mummy" who was returned to her parents as a young adult, many years after having been kidnapped as a child.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

At some point, it was torn into strips and used to wrap a mummy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

I tried to roll away from the direction of the light, but hands wrapped round my limbs like mummy bands, and I couldn't move.

From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

"It was really nice to have her in the middle to celebrate that hundred – two mummies," Wyatt-Hodge said.

From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026

Some specimens discovered over the last century retained detailed skin impressions and other soft tissue features, earning the nickname "dinosaur mummies."

From Science Daily ● May 14, 2026

In a joint Instagram post the pair, who both play for Saracens, wrote: "Baby Packer due October 2026 and your mummies and big brother can't wait to meet you."

From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2026

A study led by chemists at the University of Bristol found that the smell associated with mummies is not simply the result of aging or decay.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 16, 2026

As with the Inka, the kings’ mummified bodies continued to live opulently in their own homes and could not be displaced; indeed, the mummies were necessary presences at important state occasions.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

A knock on the door, and there stands Heseltine resigning from Mrs. Thatcher's Cabinet, Marcos on the stump, Gaddafi playing cowboy on his tractor, mummied to the nose.

From Time Magazine Archive

They picked their way among the mummied figures.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

Bronwyn hovered anxiously around an old woman who was teetering half-conscious in a chair, mummied up in a blanket.

From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs

None since the aged men who mummied the king.

From King Lear's Wife; The Crier by Night; The Riding to Lithend; Midsummer-Eve; Laodice and Dana? by Gordon Bottomley

There's a stuffed crocodile, and a mummied cat, and a horrid lizard in a bottle, and some snake skins, and a locust, and a scorpion, and a whole case of lovely butterflies.

From The Third Class at Miss Kaye's A School Story by Angela Brazil

Related Words

• dwindle
• shrink
• wilt
• wither