7개월 아기, 처음으로 엄마라고 말하다

What does “엄마” mean in Korean?

엄마 is “mom,” and for many Korean babies it is the first word. Unlike English “mommy,” it doesn’t get dropped with age: adult Koreans still call their mother 엄마, keeping the formal 어머니 for polite talk or for someone else’s mother. And when something startles them, many Koreans cry 엄마야!, the way an English speaker might yelp “oh my God!”

Dad follows the same pattern: 아빠 in everyday speech, 아버지 when formal. A close cousin of the startled cry is 어머 or 어머나, which the Standard Korean Dictionary describes as a sound of surprise used mainly by women. Here the parents can hardly believe it: 엄마라 했어 방금, “she just said mom!” The -라 했어 is a casual way to quote what someone said, and 방금 means “just now.”