What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Mug vs Mum - What's the difference?

mug | mum |

As an adjective mug

is (archaic) easily fooled, gullible.

As a noun mug

is a large cup for hot liquids, usually having a handle and used without a saucer.

As a verb mug

is to strike in the face.

As a proper noun mum is

one's mother.

mug

English

Adjective

(mugger)
  • (archaic) Easily fooled, gullible.
  • * 1920 , (Herman Cyril McNeile), Bulldog Drummond Chapter 1
    • "Great heavens! Is it?" Drummond helped himself to marmalade. "And to think that I once pictured myself skewering Huns with it. Do you think anybody would be mug enough to buy it, James?"

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A large cup for hot liquids, usually having a handle and used without a saucer.
  • (slang) The face, often used deprecatingly.
    • What an ugly mug .
  • (slang, vulgar) A gullible or easily-cheated person.
    • He’s a gullible mug – he believed her again.
  • (UK, slang) A stupid or contemptible person.

    • Synonyms

    * (face) mush * (gullible person) See

    Derived terms

    (face) * mug book * mug shot (gullible person) * mug’s game

    See also

    * cup * pannikin

    Descendants

    * Finnish: (l) * Swedish: (l)

    Verb

    (mugg)
  • To strike in the face.
  • *1821 , The Fancy , i. p.261:
  • *:Madgbury showed game, drove Abbot in a corner, but got well Mugg'd.
  • *1857 , "The Leary Man", in Anglicus Ducange, The Vulgar Tongue
  • *:And if you come to fibbery, You must Mug one or two,
  • *1866 , London Miscellany , 5 May, p.102:
  • *:"Suppose they had Mugged' you?" / "Done what to me?" / "' Mugged you. Slogged you, you know."
  • (lb) To assault for the purpose of robbery.
  • (lb) To exaggerate a facial expression for communicative emphasis; to make a face, to pose, as for photographs or in a performance, in an exaggerated or affected manner.
  • :
  • (lb) To photograph for identification; to take a mug shot.
  • *
  • *:The Bat—they called him the Bat.. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
  • Learn or review a subject as much as possible in a short time; cram.

    • References

    Derived terms

    * mug off * mug up

    References

    * *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    mum

    English

    Alternative forms

    * mam * mom, Mom (US) * Mum

    Etymology 1

    Alternative form of mam, or an abbreviation of mummy. Compare mom, mama.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (UK, Australia, Canada, New England, informal) Mother.
  • * 1993 , Hilda Hollingsworth, Places of Greater Safety , Zenobia Press edition, page 278,
    • 'Ooh Mum', Auntie don?t allow smokin’ - Pat?s eyes were round with awe as ' Mum struck a match.
  • * 2004 , Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Hansen, Irene Dunlap, Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul 2 , page 336,
    • Her mum says that she is deaf and only partially sighted, so I need to go and stand in front of her, so she can see the gift.
  • * 2006 , , page 88,
    • “Mum'! '''Mum'''!” he shouted out. The laughter stopped. Two bright, sparkling yellow eyes peeped from the hollow. Atop her head were the fluffy ear tufts that his '''mum''' was so proud of because they were fuller and lovelier than those of most Great Horned Owls. It was indeed his ' mum !
  • * 2011 , Chyna, FAM: Rolling in a London Girl Gang , unnumbered page,
    • He?s looking at my mum , at her swollen eyes, busted nose and bloodied lips. She?s mashed up something chronic, and the man who did this to her is my dad.
  • (dated) A term of respect for an older woman.
  • * 1840 , , Volume 1, 1851, page 130,
    • “Wy, mum',” said Mr. Weller, “I don?t think you?ll see a many sich, and that?s the truth. But if my son Samivel vould give me my vay, '''mum , and dis-pense with his—''might I wenter to say the vurd?”
    “What word Mr Weller?” said the housekeeper, blushing slightly.
    “Petticuts, mum ,” returned that gentleman, laying his had upon the garments of his grandson. “If my son Samivel vould only dis-pense vith these here, you?d see sich a alteration in his appearance, as the imagination can?t depicter!”
  • * 1885 , , 2011, unnumbered page,
    • Then she took off the hank and looked me straight in the face, and very pleasant, and says:
    “Come, now, what?s your real name?
    “Wh -- what, mum ?”
    “What?s your real name? Is it Bill, or Tom, or Bob? -- Or what is it?”
    Usage notes
    Mum is only capitalized when used as a proper noun: * I don't think Mum will like you. * I don't think my mum will like you. *In New England, the word may still be spelt "mom", but it will have the pronunciation of "mum."
    Synonyms
    * See also

    Etymology 2

    Abbreviation of chrysanthemum.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A chrysanthemum.

    • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) mum or .

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (colloquial) silent.
  • * Shakespeare
    • The citizens are mum , and speak not a word.
  • (colloquial) secret.
    • Derived terms
    * keep mum * mum's the word

    Interjection

  • stop speaking! hush!
  • * Shakespeare
    • Mum , then, and no more.

    Verb

    (mumm)
  • to act in a pantomime or dumb show

    • Noun

    (-)
  • (obsolete) silence
    • (Hudibras)

    Etymology 4

    (etyl) Mummere, named after Christian Mumme, who first brewed it in 1492.

    Noun

    (-)
  • A sort of strong beer, originally made in Brunswick, Germany.
    • (Addison)
    The clamorous crowd is hushed with mugs of mum . — Alexander Pope.

    Anagrams

    * * English palindromes ----