Meanings
plural guamas · alternative gua ma
- PhilippinescolloquialChinese Filipinomaternal grandmother; maternal grandma
2 more examples
"Your family, friends, and connections are your real treasure." says my guama 外婆 (in Hokkien) or grandmother, Hermiña. I was only around six years of age when she said it. Yet I still hear it in my ears now and then. That and the quote, "Tell me your company, and I will tell you what you are." from the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.
2022, Casey Huang, Move on Quick: How to Get Your Life Back and Never Break Your Heart Again, Cazh Enterprise, page 155This adobo dish is perfect because it uses three of the most important ingredients for replenishment: black sesame oil, ginger and black chicken. It not only recharges the qi but also satisfies the appetite as it is very delicious. That's why we always ask our maternal grandmother Guama Susanna to make it for us even if nobody in the family has given birth. And whenever she does, I go on a rice binge. Yes, it is that tasty.
2014, Jin Perez, Susanna Ng Ting, “Chicken in Chinese Wine and Black Sesame Oil - Chinese-style Black Chicken Adobo”, in Angelo Comsti, The Filipino Family Cookbook: Recipes and stories from our home kitchen, Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Cuisine, page 60
Synonyms & antonyms
nountropical tree of Central America and West Indies and Puerto Rico having spikes of white flowers; used as shade for coffee plantations
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Hokkien外媽 /外妈“maternal grandmother”
- Englishguama
From Hokkien 外媽 /外妈 (gōa-má, “maternal grandmother”). Compare Tagalog guwama.
More words from Hokkien
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
guama. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guama
“guama.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guama. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “guama,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guama.
Source: guama on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.