mammy
Americannoun
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Informal. mother.
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Disparaging and Offensive. (formerly in the southern United States) a Black woman engaged to take care of white children or as a servant to a white family.
noun
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a child's word for mother 1
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a Black woman employed as a nurse or servant to a White family
Sensitive Note
At the time of the Civil War and into the 20th century, the mammy was characterized as being strong, kind, and loyal. But her image was also that of an overweight, unattractive, and often illiterate enslaved household servant. This reinforced the association of this designation with racial stereotypes of inferiority and abject submissiveness. See also Aunt Jemima.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mammy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“That’s all. And her time here, it was, I suppose, it was one of a very fulfilling time, because she was just a mammy here.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 27, 2023
I love that the book ends with Kara Walker’s 2014 work “A Subtlety …,” a giant mammy sphinx made out of sugar installed in Brooklyn’s old Domino sugar factory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2021
The couple now plan to marry after after Scott proposed to Rachel with the words "mammy will you marry my daddy?" embroidered on Oscar's baby grow.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2021
The thing is, when you see a family with mammy and daddy strolling along with their nice nice children, and you feel a twinge of green, don’t hurt your head.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 15, 2020
“Your mamma too proud for you. What mammy say.”
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
"It was just pure joy, words can't describe it, to have those four healthy babies, their mammies and daddies and their granny and grandad."
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2021
"They deserve all the credit, and we should celebrate all those lockdown mammies this Mother's Day."
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2021
He was talking about “A Subtlety,” a massive sculpture by the artist Kara Walker, a sugar-coated monument to African-American mammies and to the slave labor that built the 19th-century sugar trade.
From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2014
In Accra, the mammies have been wooed and feared by politicians since independence, and no government has managed to tax them effectively.
From Time Magazine Archive
You see, dere am de nursery for sich what needs care while dere mammies am a-workin'.
From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves. Texas Narratives, Part 2 by Work Projects Administration
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
