How to spell memaw

Either use a hyphen (mee-maw) or put the words together (meemaw); just don’t write them as separate words, like mee maw.

Filters. (US, dialect, Southern US) Grandmother.

Knee Babies, Meemaws, and Ontees

Let’s start with Southern grandparent names. The most common grandmother names seem to be Grandma and Gramma, sometimes with a “w” attached to create Grandmaw and Grammaw. Another popular choice is Mawmaw or Meemaw, sometimes spelled MawMaw or MeeMaw.

(US, dialect, Southern US) Grandmother, especially maternal grandmother. (US, dialect, Southern US, less commonly) Mother.

I have been told that Mamaw and Papaw are American Indian terms referring to grandmother and grandfather. Grandparents in my family have a long history (at least six generations)of being referred to in this manner.