This content has been automatically translated from Ukrainian.
If you have watched American TV shows — for example, “Young Sheldon” or “The Big Bang Theory” — you have probably heard the characters refer to their grandmother as “Meemaw.”
Meemaw (sometimes spelled Memaw or Mawmaw) is a tender, informal word used in some regions of the U.S. to refer to grandmother. It is not literary or official — rather, it is a regional variant, similar to the Ukrainian words “баба,” “бабця,” “бабуня.”
The origin of the word Meemaw is associated with the southern states of the U.S., particularly Texas, Alabama, and Tennessee. There are many similar family terms formed from children's distortions of sounds — just as children once created their versions of “mommy” or “daddy.” Similarly, Meemaw is simply a cute way a child might have once pronounced “grandma,” and the word has remained in family use.
In culture, this word gained popularity thanks to television. In the show “Young Sheldon”, the character Connie Tucker — the lively, witty grandmother of the main character — is known to everyone as Meemaw. Her character has made this word recognizable far beyond the borders of the U.S.
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