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mummy

/ˈmʌm.i/noun, verb

mummy is spelled M-U-M-M-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.7 times per million words in written English, the 13,496th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mummy means “An embalmed human or non-human animal corpse wrapped in linen bandages for burial, especially as practised by the ancient Egyptians and some Native…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mummy is mummies.

How many letters and syllables are in mummy?

Letters5: M-U-M-M-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.7 times per million words; the 13,496th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in 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).

How common is mummy?

Mummy appears 3.7 times per million words in written English, the 13,496th 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 mummy?

  • /ˈmʌm.i/
  • /ˈməm.mi/

Mummy has 2 syllables (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-uk-mummy.ogg, En-us-mummy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of mummy

  • mummies plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • mummying participle, present
  • mummied participle, past
  • mommy US
  • mummie

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does mummy mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An embalmed human or non-human animal corpse wrapped in linen bandages for burial, especially as practised by the ancient Egyptians and some Native American tribes.

  2. 2

    A reanimated embalmed human corpse, as a stock character in horror films.

  3. 3

    Any naturally preserved human or non-human animal body.

  4. 4

    archaicA brown pigment originally prepared from the ground-up remains of Egyptian animal or human mummies mixed with bitumen, etc.

  5. 5

    archaicA pulp.

  6. 6

    A substance used in medicine, prepared from mummified flesh.

  7. 7

    obsoleteA sort of wax used in grafting.

  8. 8

    IndiaUKmother.

verb

  1. 1

    datedTo mummify.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Mummy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmomie (embalmed corpse), maman (child's term for mother)
GermanMumie (embalmed corpse), Mutti, Mama, Mami (child's term for mother)
Portuguesemúmia (embalmed corpse), mamãe, mamã (child's term for mother)
Spanishmomia, chullpa (embalmed corpse), mamá (child's term for 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.

Where does mummy come from?

From Middle English mummie, from Anglo-Norman mumie, from Middle French momie, from Medieval Latin mumia, from Arabic مُومِيَاء (mūmiyāʔ), from Persian مومیا (mumyâ), from موم (mum, “wax”). Doublet of mumijo.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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