amah

English

Alternative forms

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

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

Anagrams

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

References

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

Brunei Malay

Etymology

From Arabic أَمَة (ʔama).

Noun

amah

  1. A female domestic worker, a housemaid.

Indonesian

Etymology 1

From Malay amah, from Classical Malay امه (amah), from Arabic أَمَة (ʔama).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /amah/

Noun

amah (first-person possessive amahku, second-person possessive amahmu, third-person possessive amahnya)

  1. female domestic helper.

Etymology 2

From Arabic عَامَّة (ʕāmma, common people, public).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /amah/

Noun

amah (first-person possessive amahku, second-person possessive amahmu, third-person possessive amahnya)

  1. common people

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

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
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