Maa

Maa is a term with multiple meanings across languages and cultures. In many South Asian languages, including Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi, and Punjabi, maa means mother and functions as a common term of affection and respect in everyday speech, literature, music, and media. The word is central to kinship and cultural expressions, and it appears in devotional and familial contexts alike.

In Hindu religious practice, Maa is often used as a prefix for mother goddesses, such as Maa Durga or Maa Kali, to denote a maternal and protective divine figure. The concept combines nurturing care with cosmic power and energy, and it figures prominently in iconography, worship, and festival narratives across the region.

Outside of the Indic linguistic sphere, similar-sounding words may have unrelated meanings. For example, in Finnish, maa means land or country, illustrating how phonetic similarity can occur across languages without shared meaning.

As a proper noun, Maa can appear as a surname or given name in some cultures, and it may be used in titles or names of works in Indian cinema and music. The term’s usage therefore spans everyday speech, religion, and cultural production, reflecting both familial intimacy and reverence for the divine feminine.