amah
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
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 edit
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈɑː.mə/
- (Singapore English) IPA(key): /ˈɑː.mɑ/
Noun edit
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 edit
Anagrams edit
Afar edit
Pronunciation edit
Pronoun edit
amáh
Declension edit
Declension of amáh | ||||||||||||||||||
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absolutive | amáh | |||||||||||||||||
predicative | amáha | |||||||||||||||||
subjective | amáh | |||||||||||||||||
genitive | amáh | |||||||||||||||||
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See also edit
Afar demonstrative pronouns
References edit
- 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 edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
amah
- A female domestic worker, a housemaid.
Indonesian edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Malay amah, from Classical Malay امه (amah), from Arabic أَمَة (ʔama).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
amah (first-person possessive amahku, second-person possessive amahmu, third-person possessive amahnya)
- female domestic helper.
Etymology 2 edit
From Arabic عَامَّة (ʕāmma, “common people, public”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
amah (first-person possessive amahku, second-person possessive amahmu, third-person possessive amahnya)
Malay edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
amah (Jawi spelling امه, plural amah-amah, informal 1st possessive amahku, 2nd possessive amahmu, 3rd possessive amahnya)
Descendants edit
- Indonesian: amah
Further reading edit
- “amah” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.
Tedim Chin edit
Etymology edit
The first part (a-) from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔa. Cognates include Zou ema.
Pronoun edit
amah
References edit
- Zomi Ordbog based on the work of D.L. Haokip