mama's boy
21
7.2
- noun
- /ˈmɑːməz bɔɪ/
- Offensive
:
hijo de mamá
- His friends tease him for being a mama's boy, but he appreciates his mother's support in all his decisions.
- called a mama's boy
- little mama's boy
- bunch of mama's boys
Examples
-
I was married to the mama's boy.
Blog text (9) -
There's nothing wrong with being a mama's boy.
-
You always were your mama's boy.
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- We'll see you later, mama's boy.
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And I thought I was loving a man, not a mama's boy.
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He's definitely a mama's boy.
Blog text (17) -
I'm saying you're a mama's boy.
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Go home, mama's boy!
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But he's not stupid; he's just a mama's boy.
Academic text (2005) -
He's a real small-town kind of mama's boy.
Blog text (3)
Synonyms
1
8.1
A person who depends too much on their mother and cannot make their own decisions
1
7.5
A man or boy who depends too much on his mother and cannot make decisions alone
Surface Forms
Morphology
mama's + boy
The compound clearly combines 'mama's' (mother) and 'boy', so a B1 learner who knows those words can infer a male closely associated with his mother. However, the conventional pejorative sense — being overly attached, dependent, or unduly influenced by one's mother — is a pragmatic extension that may not be fully predictable from the parts alone, making it only partially transparent.
Etymology
Mama's boy may come from the clear image of a boy who stays close to his mama, always at her side or still under her care. So, the phrase now means 'a man who is too close to his mother and not very independent'.