Etymology
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mummy (n.1)

late 14c., mummie, "medicinal substance prepared from mummy tissue," from Medieval Latin mumia, from Arabic mumiyah "embalmed body," from Persian mumiya "asphalt," from mum "wax." Sense of "dead human body embalmed and dried after the manner of the ancient Egyptians" is recorded in English from 1610s. Mummy wheat (1842), grown in Egypt and Ethiopia and once thought to be a distinct species, was said to have been cultivated from grains found in mummy-cases.

mummy (n.2)

1784, a childish alteration of mammy. Alternative form mumsy attested by 1876.

Entries linking to mummy

mammy (n.)

child's word for "mother," 1520s, diminutive of mam (see mamma). Meaning "black woman having the care of white children" (who often continued to call her mammy after they were grown) is by 1837, Southern U.S. dialect, a variant of mamma.

mummification (n.)

1793, "process of making into a mummy," from mummy + -fication "a making or causing." Meaning "state or fact of being a mummy" is by 1857.

mummify (v.)

1620s, "embalm and dry (a dead body) as a mummy," from French momifier, from momie "mummy," from Medieval Latin mumia (see mummy) + -fier "to make into" (see -fy). Intransitive sense "shrivel or dry up" is by 1864. Related: Mummified; mummifying.

updated on March 21, 2019

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Definitions of mummy from WordNet

mummy (n.)
informal terms for a mother;
Synonyms: ma / mama / mamma / mom / momma / mommy / mammy / mum
mummy (n.)
a body embalmed and dried and wrapped for burial (as in ancient Egypt);
From wordnet.princeton.edu, not affiliated with etymonline.

Dictionary entries near mummy

mummer

Mummerset

mummery

mummification

mummify

mummy

mumps

mun

munch

Munchausen

munchies

© 2001-2022 Douglas Harper