Example sentences
mā妈mā妈zài在jiā家ma吗？
Is mom home?
mā妈mā妈qù去shàng上bān班le了。
Mom went to work.
About this word
妈 is 女 ("woman") with 马 carrying the sound, and 妈妈 is that syllable said twice. The m-a combination is among the first sounds a baby can produce, and languages around the world have similar words for mother, so treat this one as a word that grew out of baby talk rather than a designed compound. Reduplication marks closeness all through the kinship system: 爸爸, 哥哥, 弟弟, 姐姐, 妹妹, 爷爷, 奶奶. In every one of these the second syllable goes neutral, pronounced light and short. 母亲 is the formal, written equivalent, the word on a document rather than the one a child shouts.
The story behind the character
妈
女 (woman) plus 马 (horse). Not because your mom has anything to do with a horse. 马 only supplies the sound "ma." That's the phonetic rule: one half meaning, one half sound.