ma
/mɑː/noun, determiner, particle
ma is spelled M-A: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 43 times per million words in written English, the 2,339th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “ma vs mah” about 50 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, ma means “Abbreviation of milli-arcsecond” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ma is mas.
How many letters and syllables are in ma?
| Letters | 2: M-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 43 times per million words; the 2,339th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is ma?
Ma appears 43 times per million words in written English, the 2,339th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce ma?
- /mɑː/
Ma has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ma.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with ma
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of ma
- mas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ma mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Abbreviation of milli-arcsecond.
- 2
colloquialmother, mama
- 3
colloquialThe landlady of a theater.
- 4
May.
- 5
Negative space in Japanese art.
adjective
- 1
Initialism of moving average.
noun
- 1
Initialism of Master of Arts.
- 2
USInitialism of mature audience, a television rating.
- 3
USInitialism of master-at-arms.
noun
- 1
informalMother, mom, mama.
determiner
- 1
informalAlternative spelling of my.
particle
- 1
Alternative form of mah.
- 2
Alternative spelling of mah.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ma in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense colloquial form of mother:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.