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

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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

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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

Following indirect contact with her mother the court heard that the child experiences "significant difficulties" and can wake at night and say "she is scared of the dark and mummy".

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

As a result, the mummy provides an unusual window into the microbial communities that once inhabited the human body.

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

I turn to go the other way, back toward Dr. Schillinger, and ten feet away from me, standing as stiff and still as an Egyptian mummy, is Officer Berdecki.

From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron

A new examination of royal mummies from Egypt's Middle Kingdom now suggests that at least some of these women were physically trained to handle such weapons.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

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

From BBC ● Jun. 12, 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

The research, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, analyzed 35 samples of balms and bandages from 19 mummies.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 16, 2026

One of the mummies was saying: “It really does look like him.”

From "Wonder" by R. J. Palacio

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

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

They picked their way among the mummied figures.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

Then the infant, stiffened and mummied in its swaddling clothes, is brought in, and is laid on the floor by one of the mollahs.

From Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, Volume I (of 2) Including a Summer in the Upper Karun Region and a Visit to the Nestorian Rayahs by Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy) Bird

To say that it is "thirsty" is to mock with vain imagery that dead and mummied land on the borders of the Black Lava.

From The Cup of Trembling and Other Stories by Mary Hallock Foote

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Related Words

• dwindle
• shrink
• wilt
• wither

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