mummy

mummy — noun

1. a child's warm, loving word for their mother — the person who gave birth to them

1.名詞A1
釋義

a child's warm, loving word for their mother — the person who gave birth to them or takes care of them, used when talking to or about her.

例句

Noor's mummy picked her up from school every day at half past three.

Sora ran straight to his mummy and wrapped his arms around her legs.

mummy with affectionate physical actions

同義詞
  • mommy

    American English equivalent; same register but different regional usage

  • mum

    Shorter British form, also informal but slightly less 'babyish' than mummy

  • mother

    Neutral or formal term; used in all varieties of English

反義詞
  • daddy

    The corresponding affectionate term for a father

文法句型

my/your mummy

[possessive] mummy

用法筆記

Primarily used in British English by young children and by adults speaking affectionately to or about their mother. The American English equivalent is 'mommy'. This sense is not used for dead bodies — see sense 2.

2. a dead person or animal whose body has been kept from rotting by a special dryin

2.名詞B1
釋義

a dead person or animal whose body has been kept from rotting by a special drying or chemical treatment, often wrapped in cloth — most famously done in ancient Egypt as part of burial traditions.

例句

The museum has a room full of ancient Egyptian mummies in tall glass cases.

Archaeologists found a well-preserved mummy buried under the desert sand near Luxor.

同義詞
  • corpse

    Any dead body, without the implication of preservation or wrapping

  • remains

    More general and often euphemistic; can refer to bones, ashes, or partial body parts

  • cadaver

    A dead body used for medical or scientific study; neutral about preservation method

文法句型

[adjective] mummy

mummy of + [person/place]

用法筆記

Often appears with 'ancient' or 'Egyptian.' A mummy still has soft tissues (skin, organs) preserved; it is not a skeleton. The word can also refer to naturally preserved bodies found in bogs, ice, or dry deserts, not only those made by people.

常見錯誤

They found a mummy skeleton in the tomb.
They found a mummy in the tomb.
💡A mummy has preserved soft tissues and is wrapped; a bare skeleton is not a mummy.
The pharaoh's mummy coffin was made of gold.
The pharaoh's mummy was inside a golden coffin.
💡The mummy is the body; the container is a coffin or sarcophagus.