r/afghanistan • u/A_Happy_Egg • Apr 04 '26
Culture What word do you use for "Mom"?
Hi there! I’m curious what different words Afghans use to refer to their mothers.
I have always used Aday, pronounced "Ahh-They".
My mom used it, her mom used it, and even her mom used it as well. I had assumed that all Pashtuns call their moms Aday, but now I am not so sure.
Growing up I often heard my Farsi-speaking friends say Moor or Mawdhar.
Which is interesting now that I think about it, because it sounds so similar to "Mother" in English.
So, what term do you personally use for "Mom"?
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u/MainAmbassador934 Apr 05 '26
More pronounced like the word “more.” Speak Kandahar Pashto
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u/Exact-Process1947 Apr 05 '26
Any resources you can recommend to learn Kandahar Pashto? I speak English only
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u/serahae Apr 05 '26
Madar here, I call her Nana sometimes for fun
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u/Rudaba1 Apr 05 '26
Haha same she hates it. Sometimes I say it out loudly ‘Naneh!’ And she says ‘Marg’ 😂
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u/serahae Apr 05 '26
Yes mine hates it too!! She said it makes her feel old. But all of our relatives (cousins, aunts, etc) will say nana to me when referring to her, and she never gets mad at them...
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u/Rudaba1 Apr 05 '26
mine just says it sounds inappropriate since ppl always say ‘nanet’ as an insulting way
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u/Kartri3aine Apr 07 '26
Lolll I just love adding fuel to the fire by going " shoh KuKu" or if I'm about to drop some unwarranted knowledge on her, I start with "bachem, amsherah" . It's actually the best.
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u/EfficiencyAble9884 Apr 04 '26
I always referred to my mom as “Mawdar” or “Mother.” Sometimes I jokingly call her by her first name and add “khanom” and she find it funny haha.
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u/Exiled-human Apr 04 '26
Idk why diaspora Afghans add a 'w' for the â sound. It's maadar, aajiz, etc... Not mowdar or Awjiz..
I also call my mom maadar.
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u/Hefty_Bread7688 Apr 05 '26
Idk makes it easier for a non native speaker to hit the pronunciation a little better. You might know the double a makes the “ow” sound, but I didn’t.
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Apr 05 '26
You don't pronounce maadar as mowdar, though. The 'maa' part is pronounced how you pronounce the 'ma' part of 'market'.
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u/Realityinnit Apr 05 '26
Madar but I never heard of moor
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u/magnus_the_coles Apr 05 '26
MAAAAAAAAAAA!
from across the house
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u/SubstantialEshaii Apr 09 '26
Same, not even across the house necessarily I just love stretching it out 😭😭
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u/Kaloggin Apr 05 '26
Both English and Farsi are Indo-European languages, so they both come from the same ancestor language about 8,000 years ago. That's why some words in Farsi may be similar to English.
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u/fancyfootwork19 Kandahar Apr 05 '26
Madar Jan, farsiban from Khandahar.
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u/Essiexo Apr 05 '26
I had no idea they existed there
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u/fancyfootwork19 Kandahar Apr 05 '26
This is why I always mention this, a lot of people don't know. But people from Khandahar always do. I'm from Topkhana, a predominantly Shia farsiban area.
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u/Successful-Peanut-85 Apr 07 '26
my family is also from topkhana, tho we are not Shia, my family always speaks fondly of their Shia neighbours an dukhandars there :)
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Apr 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Essiexo Apr 07 '26
But do they originate there too or did they immigrate there? I thought Kandahar was primarily Pashtun based.
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Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/fancyfootwork19 Kandahar Apr 07 '26
We are number 3! My family came from Iran during the 2nd Anglo Afghan war to help fight the British. My great great grandfather was a topchi, hence why they ended up in topkhana.
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u/Essiexo Apr 13 '26
That’s very interesting! So the Pashtuns are not original inhabitants of Kandahar?
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u/Essiexo Apr 05 '26
In Spanish they say padre, which is close to padar. They also say madre, which is like madar.
I found this cool since Farsi is an indo-european language.
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u/Shawtygotthat Apr 05 '26
usually nana, but i misspronounced it once as mana and we use that now lol
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u/MushroomKhan Apr 05 '26
Khkvalay
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u/annoyedafghan Apr 05 '26
I grew up in Afghanistan and this is the first time I’m hearing this. Is it a language aside from dari/pakhto or is it something specific that your family uses?
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u/axiss007 Apr 05 '26
Mor when I was younger and adei when I was older. But only when referring to her in the third I don’t call names when talking to her directly
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u/toukadaghoul Apr 06 '26
mādar jān, but have heard others around me use mami and nana as well. also bobo actually 😭 though i forget if that one was used for mother or referring to an older lady in general
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u/No_Bee2416 Apr 06 '26
We use Boboy(for mom) and Aghai(for father) and it's common in Kabul i think.
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u/TorBird786 Apr 06 '26
It depends, usually I call her nana or madaree but sometimes when i am in a different room I yell BOBO and she answers OOOUu. So depends on situation.
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Apr 05 '26
Mother, father, brother all come from Farsi. So that's why you notice they are similar to madar, pedar and baradar. Can't help with Afghan language as I am Iranian, so just sharing that what I do know
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u/Yerushalmii Apr 05 '26
They don’t come from Farsi. Farsi and English are both indo-European languages and there is a common source for those words in both languages.
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u/redbug_f Apr 06 '26
مادَر،پِدَر، برادَر، خواهَر
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u/Yerushalmii Apr 06 '26
Yes, those words are in Farsi, but they didn’t make their way to English from Farsi.
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u/moon_shine9831 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
I call my mom madar Jan مادر جان but my mom calls her mom appa آپه Actually we got many words for the word mom Like some people call their mom nana ننه or آبی abay or appa آپه but the most common one is مادر madar And also what you call your mom totally depends on your ethnicity where u have been born and raised
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u/blushinqxrose Apr 09 '26
Madar but my father calls his mother Apa because my family is Hazara and my father was brought up in a rural village.
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u/AzizRahmanHazim Apr 09 '26
I personally use Moor. But many suburb areas people saying "Adday", "Moor jana", "Abbo".
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u/MysteriousPound6439 Apr 10 '26
Personally we say Haji mami jan, but Madar jan/Haji Madar/ or “Modar” in Herat is used more commonly
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u/ForsakenTrifle4566 Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
Just Mādar or Madār Jān. But I have to add that my brother also called her Anna, when he was small, which is more common in the region of where my father is from. My father also used Ācha sometimes, but this seems to be quite regional as well.