Dictionary

mama-pian en · NOUN

Etymology

Compound of mama + pian. Compare Spanish mama-pian, French mamanpian, mère des pians. First attested in 1822.

Meanings

1. (Caribbean, no-plural, obsolete) The primary lesion caused by yaws, typically surrounded by other, smaller lesions.
   • One ulcer is usually larger and fouler than the rest, and this is known by the negroes […] as the mama-pian, or mama yaw. 1860, Robert J. Jordan, Skin Diseases and Their Remedies, page 191:
   • A large persistent yaw is sometimes known as the "mother," or "grandmother," or "mama-pian"[…] 1903 [1898], Sir Patrick Manson, Tropical Diseases, Cassell & Company, ltd., page 526:
   • [T]he master-fungus being named mama-pian, or mother-yaw, as supposed to be the source or supply of the rest. 1822, John Mason Good, edited by Samuel Cooper, The Study of Medicine, volume 2, page 675:

Forms

Synonyms

mamma-yaw · mother-yaw · master yaw