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An old, British word for mother. Boys at schools used to say “the mater” the way they said “the ” for father — stiff, Latin-sounding, a little showing-off. Today almost nobody uses it as a real word for mum. You meet it in old books, period films, or when someone puts on that voice for a joke. The humour is the poshness, not the love. Though actually it is a quite serious Latin word underneath; English just kept it as a costume. Do not use it to a real mother unless you both know you are playing.
母親（英式舊派、開玩笑的叫法，不是日常的「媽媽」）
組成From Latin māter, “mother,” partly through Late Middle English matere. It is a doublet of mother: two English words that grew from the same old root. It is also the ancestor of matrix.
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
maternoun詞源 1/ˈmeɪtə/
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archaicslangMother.
- Their maters are all pals of my mater’s, and I don’t want to get them into trouble for aiding and abetting my little show, if you understand what I mean.
- “The mater will be delighted to see you again—after all those years,” he added.
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anatomymedicinesciencesA meninx; the dura mater, arachnoid mater, or pia mater of the brain.
maternoun詞源 2/ˈmeɪtə/
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biologynatural-sciencesSomeone or something that mates.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。