お母さん|おかあさんokaasan[2]nakadaka (mid-high)

1. nounmother; mom; mum; ma
   お母かあさんに口答くちごたえしてはいけませんよ。↗

   Don't answer your mother back.
2. nounwife
3. pronounyou (of an elderly person older than the speaker); she; her

• SynonymおふくろCasualHow adult men typically refer to their own mother when talking to outsiders; affectionate with a rough, folksy edge. Colloquial.
• Synonym母さんかあさんNeutralMore casual than 「お母さん」, used mostly for direct address within the family. Neutral register.
• Synonym母親ははおやNeutralRefers to a person as a mother in objective narration, as in 「母親として」; not used to address someone. Neutral register.
• SynonymママCasualLoanword, more affectionate than 「お母さん」; common for children addressing their mother, and adults use it too. Also a bar proprietress. Colloquial.
• Synonymお母様おかあさまFormalMore respectful than 「お母さん」; often used to address someone else's mother, or heard in upper-class families. Formal register.
• Synonym母ちゃんかあちゃんCasualAn affectionate pet name with an old downtown (shitamachi) flavor; also a common way for a husband to call his wife. Colloquial.
• SynonymおっかさんCasualAn old-fashioned affectionate form, now mostly heard in period dramas; rarely used in modern speech. Colloquial.
• Related母上ははうえFormalA solemn honorific found in old-fashioned families and letters; rarely used in daily life. Formal.
• Related母君ははぎみFormalAn archaic, elegant honorific for one's mother; found in classical texts, poetry and prose, or deliberately old-style writing; almost never in daily use. Formal.
• Related母様かあさまFormalAn honorific that is formally 「お母様」 minus the 「お」; mostly heard in novels and films, rare in everyday speech. Formal.
• Antonymお父さんおとうさんNeutralThe counterpart of 「お母さん」 for one's father; the two match in how they address or refer to a parent. Neutral.

Use 「お母さん」 by default. For more respect say 「お母様」; for objective narration use 「母親」; children's affectionate choice is 「ママ」; adult men referring to their mother to outsiders say 「お袋」. The rest are casual, old-fashioned or literary variants.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

1. 親したしみと敬意けいいを込こめて自分じぶんの母親ははおやを呼よぶ語ごあるいは指さす語ご。
2. (1の意味いみから)義母ぎぼを呼よぶ語ご。
3. (1の意味いみから)子供こども以外いがいの者ものが、子供こどもの居いる女性じょせいなどを呼よぶ語ご。
4. 主おもに花柳界かりゅうかいにおいて、置屋おきやの女おんな主人しゅじんを呼よぶ言葉ことば。