madre mía

[ˈmað̞ɾe ˈmia]

/[ˈmað̞ɾe ˈmia]/ intj

The verdict

“madre mía” is uncommon Spanish (outside the top frequency list), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency Spanish
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Usada tras una sorpresa, generalmente buena.

Corpus desk

Index ES-madre-mia · madre mía · Spanish

madre mía · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "M" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for madre mía
PropertyValue
Headwordmadre mía
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechInterjection
IPA[ˈmað̞ɾe ˈmia]
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cola larga: rango de “madre mía” en español

madre míano entra en el top 100.000 del español: zona de términos técnicos, arcaicos o escasos, el terreno típico de la doble comprobación.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

madre mía is uncommon Spanish outside the top frequency list, classed as aninterjection, transcribed [ˈmað̞ɾe ˈmia]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Usada tras una sorpresa, generalmente buena.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for madre mía, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct Spanish form is madre mía, spelled M-A-D-R-E- -M-Í-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Usada tras una sorpresa, generalmente buena.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "madre mía"?
"madre mía" is spelled M-A-D-R-E- -M-Í-A. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈmað̞ɾe ˈmia].
What does "madre mía" mean?
As an interjection, "madre mía" means: Usada tras una sorpresa, generalmente buena.
How do you pronounce "madre mía"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "madre mía" is [ˈmað̞ɾe ˈmia]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "madre mía" come from?
"madre mía" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list