mammy

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Noun

mammy (plural mammies)

1. (childish) mamma; mother
2. (US, historical, often pejorative) In the southern United States, a black nanny employed to look after white children; or in the antebellum South, a female slave who was close to the household and looked after the children.
   • 1979, Octavia Butler, Kindred:

     That's what you for—to help white folks keep niggers down. That's why he sent you to me. They be calling you mammy in a few years. You be running the whole house when the old man dies.

Translations

• French: maman
• Portuguese: mamãe
• Spanish: mamá, mami.

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