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
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈɑː.mə/
- (Singapore English) IPA(key): /ˈɑː.mɑ/
Noun
amah (plural amahs)
- (India) A woman employed to look after children; (formerly) a wet nurse.
- (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
Pronoun
amáh
Declension
Declension of amáh | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
absolutive | amáh | |||||||||||||||||
predicative | amáha | |||||||||||||||||
subjective | amáh | |||||||||||||||||
genitive | amáh | |||||||||||||||||
|
See also
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
Noun
amah
- A female domestic worker, a housemaid.
Indonesian
Etymology 1
From Malay amah, from Classical Malay امه (amah), from Arabic أَمَة (ʔama).
Pronunciation
Noun
amah (first-person possessive amahku, second-person possessive amahmu, third-person possessive amahnya)
- female domestic helper.
Etymology 2
From Arabic عَامَّة (ʕāmma, “common people, public”).
Pronunciation
Noun
amah (first-person possessive amahku, second-person possessive amahmu, third-person possessive amahnya)
Malay
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
amah (Jawi spelling امه, plural amah-amah, informal 1st possessive amahku, 2nd possessive amahmu, 3rd possessive amahnya)
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
References
- Zomi Ordbog based on the work of D.L. Haokip
- English terms derived from Portuguese
- English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Indian English
- Singapore English
- Malaysian English
- Bruneian English
- Indonesian English
- English terms with quotations
- Afar terms with IPA pronunciation
- Afar lemmas
- Afar pronouns
- Afar demonstrative pronouns
- Brunei Malay terms derived from Arabic
- Brunei Malay lemmas
- Brunei Malay nouns
- Indonesian terms inherited from Malay
- Indonesian terms derived from Malay
- Indonesian terms derived from Classical Malay
- Indonesian terms derived from Arabic
- Indonesian 2-syllable words
- Indonesian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Indonesian lemmas
- Indonesian nouns
- Requests for plural forms in Indonesian entries
- Indonesian terms derived from the Arabic root ع م م
- Malay terms borrowed from Arabic
- Malay terms derived from Arabic
- Malay 2-syllable words
- Malay terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Malay/mah
- Rhymes:Malay/ah
- Malay lemmas
- Malay nouns
- Tedim Chin terms derived from Proto-Sino-Tibetan
- Tedim Chin lemmas
- Tedim Chin pronouns