お母さん
okāsan[o̞ka̠ːsã̠ɴ]
To say ma, meaning mom, in Japanese, use お母さん (okāsan).
お母さん is the usual word for mother, used both when speaking to your mother and when talking about someone else's.
Meaning: colloquial form of mother (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
お is a polite prefix, 母 means mother and さん is a respectful suffix.
How does it change in a sentence?
When talking to outsiders about your own mother, Japanese speakers use a plainer word without the polite prefix and suffix.
How do you pronounce it?
It is romanized okāsan. The long a is held about twice as long as a short one.
Did you know?
- The current national standard for calling a mother was solidified not by natural social change, but by the Ministry of Education including the term in a 1903 textbook.
- Adults in Japan may use お母さん to refer to any older woman who possesses a motherly air, even if they are not related to her.
- While お母さん is the standard word today, it was once a regionalism associated specifically with the upper-middle class in Osaka and Kyoto.
Examples in context
- お母さんの料理はとても美味しいです。Okaasan no ryouri wa totemo oishii desu.Your mother's cooking is very delicious.
- 明日、お母さんと買い物に行きます。Ashita, okaasan to kaimono ni ikimasu.I will go shopping with my mother tomorrow.
Example conversation
Yui and Daito are talking about their weekend plans.
- 結衣 Yui今週末、お母さんと出かけるの？Konshūmatsu, okāsan to dekakeru no?Are you going out with your mother this weekend?
- 大翔 Hirotoうん、お母さんと買い物に行くよ。Un, okāsan to kaimono ni iku yo.Yeah, I'm going shopping with my mom.
- 結衣 Yuiいいな。何を買うの？Ii na. Nani o kau no?That's nice. What are you buying?
- 大翔 Hirotoまだ決めていないんだ。Mada kimete inai nda.I haven't decided yet.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry お母さん, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
