祖媽

Chinese

		ancestor; forefather; grandparents	mother; mama
trad. (祖媽)		祖	媽
simp. (祖妈)		祖	妈
anagram		媽祖／妈祖

Pronunciation

• Puxian Min (Pouseng Ping'ing): zou³ ma³
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): chó͘-má

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• Puxian Min
  • (Putian)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: zou³ ma³ [Phonetic: zou⁵ ma³]
    • Báⁿ-uā-ci̍: cô-mâ
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sɔu⁴⁵³⁻¹¹ ma⁴⁵³/
  • (Xianyou)
    • Pouseng Ping'ing: zou³ ma³ [Phonetic: zou⁵ ma³]
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sɔu³³²⁻²¹ ma³³²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chó͘-má
    • Tâi-lô: tsóo-má
    • Phofsit Daibuun: zofmar
    • IPA (Xiamen): /t͡sɔ⁵³⁻⁴⁴ mã⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /t͡sɔ⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ mã⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /t͡sɔ⁵³⁻⁴⁴ mã⁵³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /t͡sɔ⁵³⁻⁴⁴ mã⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /t͡sɔ⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ mã⁴¹/

Noun

祖媽

1. (Hokkien) great-grandmother (particularly paternal grandfather's mother)
2. (Mainland China Hokkien, vulgar) another's great-grandmother (usually referring to the speaker to insult someone)
3. (Zhangzhou and Taiwanese Hokkien, Puxian Min) deceased female ancestor
4. (Puxian Min, figurative) spoiled and lazy woman

Synonyms

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		曾祖母
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	老祖兒, 女老祖兒, 老祖奶奶, 老太太 Hui, 太太 suburbs, 曾祖母 non-face-to-face
	Taiwan	曾祖母
	Harbin	太奶
Jilu Mandarin	Tianjin	老太太, 太奶, 曾祖母 non-face-to-face
	Jinan	老奶奶
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	老太, 老太婆
Central Plains Mandarin	Wanrong	老娘
	Xi'an	太
	Xining	太太
	Xuzhou	老太太
Lanyin Mandarin	Yinchuan	太奶奶
	Lanzhou	太太
	Ürümqi	太太
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	祖祖
	Wuhan	老太, 老奶奶
	Guiyang	老祖祖, 老祖, 祖祖
	Kunming	太太
	Liuzhou	太婆
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	太奶奶
	Nantong	太太, 太婆, 女太太
Cantonese	Guangzhou	太嫲, 太婆
	Hong Kong	太嫲, 太婆
	Hong Kong (San Tin; Weitou)	太婆
	Hong Kong (Ting Kok)	阿太
	Hong Kong (Tung Ping Chau)	太婆
	Taishan	阿白, 白婆
	Kaiping (Chikan)	阿白, 白婆
	Dongguan	伯婆, 阿伯
	Yangjiang	太婆
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	太婆
Gan	Nanchang	太婆
	Lichuan	太婆
	Pingxiang	老婆婆
Hakka	Meixian	阿太, 婆太
	Xingning	婆白
	Huidong (Daling)	阿婆太
	Dongguan (Qingxi)	太婆
	Wuhua (Shuizhai)	太婆
	Wuhua (Huacheng)	太婆
	Wuhua (Mianyang)	老太婆
	Heyuan (Bendihua)	阿白
	Wengyuan	太婆
	Shaoguan (Qujiang)	婆太
	Lianshan (Xiaosanjiang)	婆太
	Liannan	阿太
	Jiexi	阿太
	Luhe	婆太
	Zhao'an (Xiuzhuan)	太婆
	Changting	太婆, 婆太
	Wuping	太太
	Wuping (Yanqian)	太太
	Wuping (Pingyu)	婆太
	Liancheng	婆太
	Ninghua	婆太
	Yudu	太婆
	Ningdu	太婆
	Ruijin	婦娘太
	Shicheng	婆太
	Shangyou (Shexi)	太婆
	Tonggu (Sandu)	婆太
	Ganzhou (Panlong)	太婆
	Dayu	太婆
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	婆太, 阿太
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	婆太, 阿太
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	婆太
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	阿太, 細妹太, 婆太, 阿婆太
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	婆太, 阿太
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	阿太, 婆太
	Hong Kong	婆太, 阿太
	Yangxi (Tangkou)	太婆
	Yangchun (Sanjia)	阿太
	Xinyi (Sihe)	太婆
	Xinyi (Qianpai)	太婆
	Gaozhou (Xindong)	祖婆
	Maoming (Shalang, Dianbai)	祖婆, 太婆
	Huazhou (Xin'an)	婆祖
	Lianjiang (Shijiao)	婆祖
	Lianjiang (Qingping)	婆佬
	Mengshan (Xihe)	婆太
	Luchuan	婆太
	Sabah (Longchuan)	阿婆太
	Senai (Huiyang)	婆太
	Sungai Tapang, Batu Kawa (Hepo)	太媽
	Singkawang	婆太
Huizhou	Jixi	太婦
	Shexian	太奶
	Huangshan (Tunxi)	太婆, 老太太
Jin	Taiyuan	老奶
	Xinzhou	老娘娘啊 face-to-face, 老娘娘 non-face-to-face
Northern Min	Jian'ou	太婆
	Jian'ou (Dikou)	大媽
	Songxi	大媽
	Zhenghe (Zhenqian)	大婆
	Jianyang	大媽
	Pucheng (Shibei)	大婆
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	大媽
Southern Min	Xiamen	阿祖 face-to-face, 俺祖 face-to-face, 太媽 non-face-to-face, 祖媽
	Quanzhou	太媽, 阿太, 祖媽
	Zhangzhou	阿祖 face-to-face, 老祖仔 non-face-to-face, 祖媽
	Taipei	查某祖
	Kaohsiung	阿祖
	Yilan	查某祖
	Changhua (Lukang)	阿祖媽
	Taichung	祖太
	Taichung (Wuqi)	查某祖
	Tainan	阿祖
	Taitung	查某祖
	Hsinchu	查某祖
	Penghu (Magong)	查某祖
	Penang (Hokkien)	老婆, 祖媽
	Manila (Hokkien)	太媽, 阿太
	Chaozhou	老媽
	Shantou	老媽
	Shantou (Chenghai)	老媽
	Jieyang	老媽
	Haifeng	老, 老老, 老媽
	Bangkok (Teochew)	老媽
	Johor Bahru (Teochew)	老媽
	Leizhou	尼祖, 祖 face-to-face
	Wenchang	老祖, 阿祖
	Haikou	祖婆, 婆祖, 婆祖媽
Puxian Min	Putian	大媽
	Xianyou	大媽
Zhongshan Min	Zhongshan (Longdu, Shaxi)	太婆
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	太奶, 祖婆
Wu	Shanghai	太婆, 太太, 女太太, 曾祖母 non-face-to-face
	Shanghai (Chongming)	太婆, 太太 face-to-face
	Suzhou	太太
	Danyang	太嫚嫚, 太婆
	Hangzhou	阿太, 太娘娘, 太婆
	Ningbo	太婆, 阿太
	Wenzhou	女老太, 女太, 阿太, 老太 non-face-to-face
	Jinhua	太太, 太婆
Xiang	Changsha	曾祖母
	Xiangtan	老毑
	Loudi	太婆
	Hengyang	太婆

Dialectal synonyms of 曾祖母 (“great-grandmother (paternal grandfather's mother)”) [map]

References

• 莆田市政协文化文史和学习委员会 [Culture, History and Learning Committee of Putian CPPCC], editor (2021), “祖妈”, in 莆仙方言大词典 [Comprehensive Dictionary of Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 601.