お母さん（おかあさん、okaasan）
- mother

The word お母さん, read おかあさん, means "mother" in Japanese. It's a respectful and common way to refer to one's own mother or to address another person's mother. The "お" is a polite prefix.

⚫︎ お母さんは料理が上手です。 Translation: My mother is good at cooking. ⚫︎ お母さん、ただいま！ Translation: Mom, I'm home! ⚫︎ あの人は、お母さんの友達です。 Translation: That person is my mother's friend.

⚫︎ You can use お母さん to address your own mother directly. ⚫︎ It is also used when talking about your mother to others. ⚫︎ When referring to someone else's mother, お母さん is considered polite and respectful. However, in extremely formal situations, other honorifics or more formal terms might be used. ⚫︎ It is generally suitable for everyday conversations.

⚫︎ The standard way to write this word is お母さん using hiragana for おかあ and kanji for さん. ⚫︎ The kanji for "mother" is 母. You could write it as お母さん, but you often see it written with hiragana. ⚫︎ The okurigana (the suffix hiragana) is always さん.

⚫︎ おふくろ - A more casual and often affectionate way of referring to one's own mother. It's a bit less formal. ⚫︎ 母 - The kanji form, used more in writing.

There isn't a direct antonym. You might consider "father" (お父さん - おとうさん) as an opposite role within a family context.

お母さんはいつも私を応援してくれます。 ・Translation: My mother always supports me. ・Explanation: This sentence illustrates the use of お母さん to describe a characteristic of one's mother.

田中さんのお母さんはとても親切です。 ・Translation: Mr./Ms. Tanaka's mother is very kind. ・Explanation: Here, お母さん is used respectfully when talking about someone else's mother.

The word is formed from the prefix お, which is a polite honorific, and 母 (かあ), meaning "mother." The suffix さん is a honorific used for adults. So, お母さん is essentially a polite and respectful term for "mother."