baby mama
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Formed in African-American Vernacular English, attested since the 1980s[1] and popularized in the 2000s.[2][3] Possibly from or influenced by same term in Jamaican English, from Jamaican Creole baby-mother (“pregnant woman”) (1966),[3] alternatively due simply to grammatical similarities between AAVE and Jamaican Creole.[2]
Pronunciation edit
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun edit
baby mama (plural baby mamas)
- (US, slang, possibly derogatory) Mother of child in common, particularly unmarried.
- She's not his girlfriend now, but she's one of his baby mamas.
- 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 128:
- Except for Rasheena, the rest of the baby mamas was at least struggling to live halfway right. They used to clown and act shitty whenever they came by Noojie's and saw Carmiesha there. But every last one of them ended up being grateful to her for the things she did for their kids.
- 2008, Ebony Vol. 63, No. 8, Sidestepping Baby Mama Drama - Jun 2008, page 154
- For men who must deal with these situations and others like them, the result is what has now been deemed as "baby-mama drama."
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:baby mama.
Usage notes edit
- Contentious usage – sometimes used neutrally as a casual term, regardless of marriage status, particularly in the tabloid press,[3] or as a term of endearment. Often considered pejorative, particularly if applied to unmarried black parents – if used by one parent of the other, can imply “child in common but no meaningful relationship”, while if used by outsiders, can imply disapproval of children born out of wedlock; see citations.[4] More formal variants include “baby’s mama” and “baby’s mother”; in formal usage “mother of one’s child” is preferred. Similar considerations apply to baby daddy.
See also edit
References edit
- ^ “baby-mama, n.” under “baby, n. and adj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2021.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 John McWhorter (2008 December 10) “What did Joe Louis have to tell us about Tina Fey?”, in Language Log[1]
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Julia Turner (2006 May 7) “Where Do "Baby-Daddies" Come From? The origins of the phrase.”, in Slate[2]
- ^ Tobin Harshaw (2008 June 12) “Was It a Slur?”, in New York Times[3]
