mommie

Mommie is an informal, affectionate term for mother and a variant spelling of mommy used in English. The spelling with double m (mommie) is older and less common today, where mommy or mom are more typical in everyday usage. In literature and in personal names, "mommie" sometimes appears as a stylistic choice or dialect rendering of the same term.

Origin and usage: The form derives from mom with the diminutive suffix -ie. It has appeared in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century writing and persists in certain dialects, children's books, and historical texts. In modern prose, the spelling "mommie" is often used to evoke a period setting or a maternal figure in fiction and memoirs.

In popular culture: The term is closely associated with the memoir Mommie Dearest (1978) by Christina Crawford, which portrays her adoptive mother, actress Joan Crawford, in a critical light. The book was adapted into the 1981 film Mommie Dearest. The phrase continues to be used in titles and in discussions of motherhood, memory, and pop culture.

See also: Mommy; Mom; Mother; Mommie Dearest.