sweetheart (boyfriend/girlfriend), lover [Gh.]

• Buŋa m-mi din chɛ ka o je o lan’ maam ʒili ʒibu. The donkey knows why it doesn’t want to carry the load of its owner’s lover. [Prov. 735]
• N ni chaŋ m mamanim’ bɛn tiri ma bindirigu mini kom ni ago ni atampanima I will go to my boyfriends who give me food and water and 'velvets and silks'. [HOS 2:5]
• O je suli niŋi o mam. He is angry with his girlfriend.
• Dagɔrili je ni o maam niŋ pua ka lee bɔri ni o paɣa dɔɣi. A womanizer doesn’t want his girl friend to become pregnant and yet he wants his wife to have children. [Prov. 797]
• Ka o yili lun-naa ŋme kuŋa ni o mam leela Beemoni-naa And his household drum-chief proclaimed that his 'lover' had become Beemoni Naa. [DB-Chiefships.081]

a concubine, mistress

• Nahɔr mam ŋun yuli daa booni Riuma la Nahor's concubine who was called Reuma. [GEN 22:24]
• O daa kpuɣila paɣiba pisaayika, ka daa mali mamanim’ pihiyɔbu He married 18 wives and had 60 concubines. [2CH 11:21]

a polite form of address to close friends of the opposite sex