amah

English

Alternative forms

• ama

Etymology

From Portuguese ama (“female nurse”), from Medieval Latin amma (“wet nurse, amma”), perhaps an alteration of Latin mamma, of imitative origin, or from Ancient Greek.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑː.mə/
• (Singapore English) IPA^(key): /ˈɑː.mɑ/
• Rhymes: -ɑːmə

Noun

amah (plural amahs)

1. (India) A woman employed to look after children; (formerly) a wet nurse.
2. (Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia) A female domestic helper; a maid.
   • 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 20:

     Then one day he disappeared and when Luke called apprehensively at his apartment the old amah told him that ‘Whisky Papa runrun London fastee.’

See also

• amma

Anagrams

• AHAM, Hama, MAHA, maha, mahā

Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈmah/ [ʔʌˈmʌh]
• Hyphenation: a‧mah

Pronoun

amáh

1. this, that (masculine; proximal to the spoken to)

Declension

Declension of amáh
absolutive	amáh
predicative	amáha
subjective	amáh
genitive	amáh
Postpositioned forms l-case amáhal k-case amáhak t-case amáhat h-case amáhah

See also

Afar demonstrative pronouns

	masculine	feminine
proximal to the speaker(s)	áh	táh
proximal to the spoken to	amáh	tamáh
distal	wóh	tóh
very distal	wóttih

References

• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎^[1], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Brunei Malay

Etymology

From Arabic أَمَة (ʔama).

Noun

amah

1. A female domestic worker, a housemaid.

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.mah/
• Rhymes: -mah
• Hyphenation: a‧mah

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Hokkien 阿媽／阿妈.

Noun

amah

1. a (Chinese) woman who works as a housemaid

Etymology 2

From Arabic عَامَّة (ʕāmma).

Noun

amah

1. ordinary or most people

Etymology 3

From Malay amah, from Arabic أَمَة (ʔama).

Noun

amah

1. housemaid (a female domestic worker)

Etymology 4

Noun

amah

1. alternative form of amati (“paternal blood aunt”)

Further reading

• “amah” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Malay

Etymology

From Arabic أَمَة (ʔama).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /amah/
• Rhymes: -mah, -ah

Noun

amah (Jawi spelling امه, plural amah-amah, informal 1st possessive amahku, 2nd possessive amahmu, 3rd possessive amahnya)

1. maidservant, nursemaid, housemaid

Descendants

• Indonesian: amah

Further reading

• “amah” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Tedim Chin

Etymology

The first part (a-) from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔa. Cognates include Zou ema.

Pronoun

amah

1. he, she

References

• Zomi Ordbog based on the work of D.L. Haokip