Friday, April 27, 2018

母, Haha - Meaning in Japanese

The word haha means "mother" in Japanese (or it's a laugh, haha). It's somewhat synonymous with okaasan お母さん, but differs in usage. (see haha vs. okaasan). The "father" counterpart would be chichi.

Kanji

The word haha written with kanji is haha 母.

Given that haha is written with a very basic kanji, it's unlikely to be written without kanji, but here's how you'd write it with kana anyway just in case:

Note that haha ハハ is more likely to be a laugh, literally "haha," rather than somebody's mother because onomatopoeia are usually written with katakana.

Derived Words

A number of Japanese words derive from haha 母 and also mean mother.

The word hahaoya 母親 is usually an indirect way to refer to one's mother, referring to them as a "parent," oya 親, rather than directly.

The word hahaue 母上 is a respectful word that was more common in the past but isn't really used nowadays. In anime, its usage usually denotes the character comes from a more traditional family, anachronistic.

The words hahagimi 母君 and hahago 母御 are also rather old-fashioned ways to refer to one's mother. They may be found in writing sometimes.
Family Words

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