Search results
- DictionaryA·mah/ˈämə/
noun
- 1. a nursemaid or maid in East Asia or India.
Check pronunciation: amah. Definition of amah noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
Definitions of amah. noun. a female domestic. synonyms: housemaid, maid, maidservant. see more. noun. a woman hired to suckle a child of someone else. synonyms: wet nurse, wet-nurse, wetnurse. see more.
Define Amah. Amah is a term used in some parts of Asia to refer to a domestic worker who performs household tasks, similar to a maid or housekeeper. The term is most commonly used in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. Amahs are typically women who are employed by families to perform tasks such as cleaning, cooking, and childcare.
- English
- Afar
- Brunei Malay
- Indonesian
- Tedim Chin
Alternative forms
1. 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
1. (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈɑː.mə/ 2. (Singapore English) IPA(key): /ˈɑː.mɑ/
Pronunciation
1. IPA(key): /aˈmah/, [ʔʌˈmʌh] 2. Hyphenation: a‧mah
Pronoun
amáh 1. this, that (masculine; proximal to the spoken to)
References
1. Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie), Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)
Etymology
From Arabic أَمَة (ʔama).
Noun
amah 1. A female domestic worker, a housemaid.
Etymology 1
From Malay amah, from Classical Malay امه (amah), from Arabic أَمَة (ʔama).
Etymology 2
From Arabic عَامَّة (ʕāmma, “common people, public”).
Etymology
The first part (a-) from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔa. Cognates include Zou ema.
Pronoun
amah 1. he, she
2 days ago · Definition of 'amah' Word Frequency. amah in British English. (ˈɑːmə , ˈæmə ) noun. (in India and East Asia, esp formerly) a nurse or maidservant, esp one of Chinese origin. Compare ayah. Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers. Word origin. C19: from Portuguese ama nurse, wet nurse. Word Frequency.
Apr 3, 2022 · Others say amah originated in the Chinese term for wet nurse, nai mah, literally, “milk mother”. As Mimi Chan and Helen Kwok explain, the word has “become more general in meaning and is used ...
Define amah. amah synonyms, amah pronunciation, amah translation, English dictionary definition of amah. also a·ma n. A housemaid or children's nurse, especially in East Asia and Southeast Asia. American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth...
