mummer
/ˈmʌm.ɚ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.41 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An actor in a pantomime; one who communicates entirely through gesture and facial expression.
Example Sentences
- "[To] perform as mummers, who act in relays of eight, at the worship of ancestors."
- "There is a general agreement that niggering [blackface performance] took over from mummering to keep up the old custom."
- "We mummered taverns and restaurants and the airport (the dead man went round and round on the luggage carousel). We mummered Portuguese fishing trawlers in the harbour, where the show worked despite the language barrier, […]"
Etymology
From Middle English mummer, mommer, equivalent to mum + -er, perhaps conflating with Old French momeor (“jester, entertainer”), from mommer (“to wear a mask”), from momon (“mask”). Compare German Mumme (“mask”), 16th Century German mummen (“to disguise oneself”), Middle Dutch mommen, mummen (“to go about in a mask, to disguise”), Middle Low Saxon mommen (“to wear a mask, to disguise”), Dutch mom (“mask”) and mimmen (“to mask”) as well as Spanish momo (“grimace”). Perhaps both of the conflated terms are from the same ultimate root, as note Middle Low Saxon mummen (“to speak indistinctly, to disguise oneself”), Dutch mommen (“to speak indistinctly”), German mummen (“to speak indistinctly”), English mump (“to grimace, mumble”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: mummer, momeor
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmʌm.ɚ/
- British English: /ˈmʌm.ə(ɹ)/